#a few weeks is Tentative depending on WHERE i wanna end the first chapter

[payasita]

made a dev blog for Psychopompous!

gonna keep all updates and game stuff here from now on, to keep it all consistent and in one place! i should have the first act up soon after a beta round in ehhh lets hope a few weeks time

#psychopompous #visual novel #game dev #im excited! #a few weeks is Tentative depending on WHERE i wanna end the first chapter #the beats are done but cutting the whole dang thing into three acts is A Task #AND now i have a place to shamelessly draw My Awful Skeleton Children and their Dead Customers #good week good week #...i actually made the blog a few days ago but forgot to announce it WOOPS #k bye

[hunnywrites]

Arcade Dreams: Chapter Twenty One

Summary: There’s a new girl working at the Palace Arcade and Hawkins’ Family Video. Billy can’t stand her, and the feeling is mutual. No matter what everyone else seems to think.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove/OFC

A/N: It’s a Thanksgiving miracle I’ve finally finished the chapter. I’m sorry this is so late! We’re heading into the summer of ‘85 now, but don’t worry! I’ll be writing a few chapters of Chasing Yesterday to fill in the spaces between Billy and Teddi moving in together and now. I just didn’t want things to feel too clunky. This chapter also ends a tad awkwardly, but I’m breaking it into two parts so the chapters don’t get too long. Hope you enjoy!

The Hawkins public pool was packed to the brim with people. As Teddi hopped out of her van and made her way through the parking lot, the sound of splashing, kids yelling and laughing and the Power of Love playing on someone’s boombox nearby grew louder and louder. Today was her day off, but since everyone she knew was working Teddi decided laying out by the pool was probably a better decision than staying home and watching Star Trek reruns all day. 

Teddi made her way inside the gates, passing the bulletin board that read “Meet our ‘85 swim season lifeguards’ in large yellow letters. Teddi’s photo was between Heather and Billy’s. Her hair was longer than it had been when she moved to Hawkins and no longer platinum. Heather had helped her dye it a more natural, golden, honey blonde at the beginning of the summer. The silver ring that had been through her right nostril had been replaced with a thin gold ring that Billy had gotten her simply to match the small gold hoop that was in his ear now (the silver dangly earring Billy had been wearing before was now in Teddi’s ear). Teddi was smiling brightly at the camera, which was a stark contrast from the cool, almost bored expression that was on Billy’s face in his photo. 

“Hey, Katie.” she said with a smile as she passed by the front desk. Katie was sitting with her feet up on the counter and a magazine in her lap. Katie threw a wave in Teddi’s direction, not bothering to look up. Heather was perched up in the lifeguard’s chair, glaring down at a group of kids who were running over to the diving boards. Heather waved at her before blowing her whistle at the kids loudly. 

Teddi walked over to the tiny snack bar window, smiling tentatively at the girl on the other side. Cheryl Burns had gotten a job at the pool at the beginning of the summer. Initially she had applied to be a lifeguard, but had quickly changed her mind. “You mean if someone totally disgusting starts drowning or whatever I have to like...give them mouth to mouth? Gross. No thanks.” were her exact words. So Freddy had stuck her at the snack bar. She of course hated it. 

Cheryl’s strawberry blonde hair sat high up on her head in a ponytail. She brushed her feathered bangs out of her eyes, her eyebrows raising expectantly at Teddi. “...Coke, please.” Teddi squeaked out. Cheryl was an intimidating girl, and she knew it. Sometimes Teddi was certain that Cheryl enjoyed making her nervous. 

Cheryl set down the can of coke in front of Teddi, sneering at it in disgust. “I don’t know how you drink that shit,” she jabbed one of her long, painted nails at the “New Coke” logo. “They totally ruined it.” she held her out towards Teddi. 

Teddi dropped her change into Cheryl’s hand. “It’s not that bad...you get used to it.” 

Cheryl rolled her eyes. “I’d rather shove old man Myers’ speedo in my mouth,” she scoffed, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder. Cheryl was also the most dramatic person Teddi had ever met. Cheryl looked back at the red clock on the wall behind her, a smirk forming on her lips as she leaned forward. “Here comes lover boy,” she said in a sweet, sing songy tone, nodding her head towards the locker rooms. 

Teddi turned just as Billy was walking out. While Teddi enjoyed the summer time, Billy came alive in it. It brought out the Cali boy in him like flowers that bloomed with the warm weather. His sandy blonde hair had turned a few shades lighter in the sun. His skin was a deep, golden bronze. Billy had gotten a new air of confidence about him ever since he’d move out, but now it was something different. Something that Teddi wasn’t the only one to notice. 

Karen Wheeler and a few of the other moms showed up to the pool every day around mid afternoon for Billy’s shift. They weren’t very secretive about it either. Heather would climb down from the lifeguard chair and each of them would start adjusting their swimsuits and makeup while they waited for Billy to come out. 

“Look at them,” Cheryl scoffed. “It’s so gross how they’re all drooling over him. I mean, Karen has a kid his age. And like he’d want some dried up old hag anyways,” she said with an eye roll. “You should go over there and like french him or something and tell that tacky bitch to back off. I mean, who the fuck wears a pearl necklace to a pool?” 

Teddi couldn’t help but laugh. She pulled her eyes from Billy, turning back to Cheryl. “Cheryl, do you always have to be so...blunt?” she asked, taking a sip of her coke. 

Cheryl pursed her glossy lips. “I’m a leo. It’s what we do,” she said matter of factly. Teddi coughed on her soda, sputtering loudly. “Jesus, Larsson. Say it, don’t spray it.” Cheryl frowned, leaning away from Teddi. 

“Sorry,” Teddi cleared her throat. “Sorry...I’m gonna go. Always a pleasure chatting with you, Cheryl.” she gave the blonde an awkward salute, wincing at herself as she spun around on her heel and heading over to Billy. 

Billy smirked down at Teddi as he watched her approach him, pushing his sunglasses down his nose to look at her. “You stalkin’ me, Larsson?” he teased. Teddi stepped up onto a bar at the bottom of the lifeguard chair, balancing carefully as she reached up to kiss Billy. She laughed when she felt his fingers slipping into the back of her cut off shorts, smacking his hand away. No doubt a show for the group of eyes that were glaring a hole into Teddi behind her. 

“Aren’t you a little over dressed for the pool?” he asked, his hand resting on her lower back. 

“Cool your jets. I’m gonna change,” she rolled her eyes. “Are you busy tomorrow?” 

Billy looked at her cooly. “...Depends.” 

Teddi let out a huff. “Depends on what?” 

“On what you’re gonna ask me to do...and which bikini you’re wearing under there.” he was smirking again.

Teddi pulled a face, popping her hip slightly and raising an eyebrow. “Who says I’m wearing anything under this?” 

Billy’s smirk twitched just slightly before he looked over the top of his glasses at her again, his eyes trained on the white crop top that was covered in little daisies that Teddi was wearing before looking back at her. “...Where am I going?” 

Teddi laughed. Sometimes it was just too easy. “It’s El’s birthday tomorrow. Hop’s having a party for her at the cabin and then she and Max are sleeping over at our place.” dinner at Hopper’s cabin had become a regular weekly thing for Billy and Teddi. He’d started to invite them over after the fight between Billy and Tommy. Billy had of course been closed off to the idea at first. Teddi had gone to the cabin alone for about the first three weeks before she convinced him to join her. 

“You want me to go to some 13 year old’s birthday party?” he asked.

“She’s 14 now.”

“Whatever.” 

“Oh come on,” Teddi huffed. “It’ll be fun. There’s cake. How can you say no to cake?” 

Billy held up his hands. “I’ll go. But don’t expect me to play pin the tail on the donkey or whatever the hell those little dorks do at parties,” he grumbled. Teddi rolled her eyes. “Speaking of birthdays...what do you wanna do for yours?” 

Teddi let out a groan. Her 18th birthday was in a week and she’d been trying her damndest not to think about it. “I don’t know...do we have to do anything?” 

Billy shot her a look. “If I tried that with my birthday would that work?” 

Teddi sighed “No…”

“What’d you used to do back home?” he asked. 

Teddi thought about it. Birthdays in her family had never really been a very big deal. Her parents hadn’t even celebrated their own unless you counted the fancy new purse her dad would buy her mother every year. “...Me and Hannah would drive into the city and we’d ride the Staten Island ferry back and forth for a few hours and smoke weed.” she finally said.

Billy laughed. “Jesus, Larsson. As fun as that sounds, you got any other ideas?”

“Well what did you do for your 18th birthday?” she asked with an irritated sigh. 

Billy smirked. “Cheryl.” he said with a snort. 

“Ugh. You’re disgusting,” she groaned, Billy chuckling at her. “As fun as that sounds, I think I’d rather just go to the movies or something. Maybe we can go to Starcourt and bring Max and El.” she suggested. 

Billy’s smile faltered for just a moment. “Whatever you say, Birthday Girl.” he said cooly. 

Teddi frowned slightly, pulling away from him. “...I’m gonna go find a lounger and read for awhile. You gonna come see me after you’re done up here?” she asked. Billy’s smile was back as he nodded and leaned in to kiss her again as if nothing had happened. Teddi hopped down, not looking at Karen and her friends as she passed them and headed for an empty chair by the pool. 

She started to wonder almost obsessively about the look on Billy’s face when she suggested going to the movies as she peeled her crop top and shorts off. She knew that he was watching her strip down to her bright green bikini, but didn’t turn to look at him. Had he maybe planned something different? Was it because she wanted to go with El and Max? When it came to Billy there was really no telling what was going on in his head.

Teddi let out a heavy sigh, plopping down onto the white lounger and pulling her copy of the Fellowship of the Rings out of her bag. With her sunglasses on, she allowed herself to peek back at Billy as she pretended to read. He was watching her with a sort of confused frown before his jaw set tightly and he turned away from her. 

He was definitely up to something. 

---

Teddi was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, chewing on her bottom lip as she carefully folded the bright purple wrapping paper around the stack of books she’d gotten El for her birthday. Teddi had picked them out carefully. There was the Princess Bride, Alice in Wonderland and the Last Unicorn; each bound in intricate covers with a short message that Teddi had written inside each of them. 

The phone started ringing as she scrawled From Teddi and Billy on the little tag she’d stuck to the wrapping paper. “I got it,” Billy called from his room. Teddi didn’t pay much attention to him. She grabbed a smaller present, wrapped in the same purple paper, and set it on top of the other, larger present. “Yeah?...Oh, yeah hi,” Billy threw a look over at Teddi before he turned from her, lowering his voice to speak to whoever was on the other end. 

Teddi watched him with a frown. She grabbed the TV remote, muting the Starcourt commercial that was playing so she could hear a little better. “Just give me like...an hour. I’ll be there. Yeah. Alright, I’ll see you then.” Billy hung up. He turned, going still when he met Teddi’s eyes. She crossed her arms. 

“Who was that?” she asked. 

Billy shifted awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Nobody...uh, look Ted, I know I said I’d go to El’s party…”

“You’re cancelling? Billy, we were supposed to leave like ten minutes ago.” she huffed. Teddi stood, scooping the gifts into her arms. 

“Something came up is all. I gotta…” he shook his head. “I just gotta be somewhere, okay? El’s not gonna give a shit that I’m not there.” his tone was starting to get a little colder. Like Teddi was accusing him of something. It only made her more suspicious. 

“You know that that’s not true,” she argued. While Teddi and El had grown significantly closer over the last few months, Billy had also (begrudgingly) bonded with her much to Teddi’s surprise. “What’s going on here? You’re acting really weird. Why can’t I know where you’re going?”

She was trying to keep her tone light, playful. She even let out a little laugh at the end like she was teasing him. Billy’s jaw clenched, and Teddi’s stomach dropped. “...I gotta go. I’ll see you later. Tell El I said happy birthday.” he muttered, grabbing his keys and quickly walking out. 

Teddi glared at the door. The Camaro’s engine rumbled in the distance, slowly disappearing as Billy drove off. “Of all the nights to pull this shit…” she mumbled to herself, nearly stomping over to the kitchen counter and snatching up her keys. She spent the drive back into Hawkins going over theories to herself. Teddi found herself feeling ashamed when she wondered if maybe there was someone else. 

She liked to think that if Billy was cheating on her he’d hide it better. Or maybe that was just her ego. It was Billy after all. Teddi let out a heavy sigh. It had to be something else. She just had absolutely no idea what it could be. 

When she arrived at the cabin she pushed Billy from her mind. She wouldn’t let this ruin the party. Teddi grabbed the presents, hopping out of the van and heading up the porch, her boots thumping against the old wood. Hopper answered when she knocked.

“Hey, kiddo,” he grinned down at her, his eyes immediately looking over to the empty space beside her. “...No Billy?” he asked, his eyebrows raised. 

“Something came up last minute,” she explained, trying to keep her tone neutral. “It’s probably for the best. I’m sure he’d complain about the cake ruining his physique or something.”

Hopper chuckled and stepped aside to let Teddi in. He’d traded in his uniform for some jeans an old plaid button up. Teddi always thought he looked less intimidating in his own clothes. More like a dad that liked to tell cheesy jokes...which was exactly what Hopper was. 

The kids were all already there aside from Dustin, who was off at summer camp. They were all crowded around the dinner table playing a game of Candyland. The cabin was decorated with colorful streamers, balloons and a big banner that read Happy Birthday! was hanging above the kitchen. There was a small cake sitting out on the counter waiting for it’s candles. It was a soft yellow color with bright pink piping and Happy Birthday El scrawled in shaky lettering that Teddi assumed belonged to Hopper. 

“Teddi!” El said, smiling brightly at her before pushing her chair back and hurrying over to the blonde. Teddi set her presents aside before wrapping her in a tight hug.

“Jeez, Ellie Bean. When’d you get so tall? I don’t have to bend down to hug you anymore.” she laughed. All of the kids had hit a growth spurt over the summer. Teddi no longer towered over them. She wasn’t really sure when it had happened exactly. It was like one day suddenly Mike was taller than she was and she’d nearly had an existential crisis. 

El let out a small laugh. “Hop says I’m not allowed to get any taller.” 

“He’s right.” Teddi muttered. 

“...Where’s Billy?” El asked, peering out one of the front windows as if she expected to see Billy smoking out on the porch.  

Teddi winced a little at her disappointed expression. “He’s not gonna be able to make it. Something came up, I guess. He told me to tell you happy birthday.”

That had gotten Max’s attention. The redhead looked away from the board game, looking at Teddi suspiciously. “What do you mean something came up? Did you guys break up?” she asked.

Teddi let out a sigh. “No...it’s a long story. I’d rather not talk about it.” she mumbled, heading over to the fridge to grab a drink. El and Max shared a knowing look. They’d agree to drop the subject. For now. 

“Hey, how come we can’t go to the sleepover?” Lucas asked as Teddi pulled a seat up to the game. 

Max rolled her eyes. “Because it’s a girl’s night, genius. None of you are girls.”

“That’s pretty sexist of you guys.” Mike argued. 

Hopper scoffed loudly from his spot on the couch. “Quit while you’re behind, Wheeler.” 

“What do you guys even do during a girl’s night?” Lucas asked, looking between the three girls. 

“Summon demons.” Teddi said with a straight face.

Mike, Lucas and Will all shared a look. “...I’m pretty sure she’s kidding.” Will finally decided. 

After the game of Candyland (Mike won, but Lucas had accused him of cheating) they all crowded around El to sing happy birthday and eat cake. After the presents had been opened, Teddi held up the smaller gift she had wrapped earlier, motioning to El to follow her out to the porch. 

She handed the small, but long box to the teen with an almost embarrassed look. El smiled at her, making quick work of ripping the paper open. Inside the white box was quite frankly one of the tackiest necklaces Teddi had ever seen. It had a clunky, golden chain and a deep blue stone at the end of it. In the stone there was a constellation that was almost crudely carved into the stone. 

“When I was little and my dad started working for the city, he took me and my mom to this state fair so he could make himself look good for his bosses. There were all these game stands, and one of them was this little pool that had these little rubber ducks in it. You got to pick three of them, and if you picked the right one you got a prize. So I begged him over and over to let me play and I ended up winning that horrible necklace,” she said, her and El both laughing. “It’s how I found out I was a gemini. The girl that worked at the stand was a total hippie and gave it to me when I told her my birthday. The stone is supposed to be our birthstone and then that’s the gemini constellation...I don’t know. I found it again after I moved in with Billy and I thought you should have it. It’s ugly in kind of a cool way.”

El held the necklace up, smiling up at Teddi. “I love it.” 

“Yeah?” Teddi asked, letting out a relieved sigh. “Good! Here,” she took the necklace from El, twirling her finger to tell her to turn around and clasped it around her neck. El turned back towards Teddi, taking the small pendant between her fingers. “Perfect. Come on, we should go get Max and head out before Hop tries to kill Mike.” Teddi snickered. 

The two girls headed inside, El hurrying over to Max and pulling her to her room to grab their things. Hopper looked so relieved Teddi thought he might cry. He stood up from the couch, waving his hands at the door. “Alright, boys, the party’s over. You don’t have to go home, but you have to get the hell outta my house.” 

“This is totally unfair!” Mike complained. “I can’t spend time with my girlfriend on her birthday because of girl’s night?” 

“How ‘bout you complain to someone who cares, Wheeler. Let’s go.” Hopper said, herding him towards the door. El and Max came running back out, arms full with their bags and sleeping bags. Lucas and Will wished her happy birthday again before practically dragging Mike out to their bikes. 

“Don’t worry chief, I’ll take good care of them,” Teddi said, placing her hands on El and Max’s heads. “We’re gonna make crank calls and break out the ouija board.”

Hopper smiled thinly at her. “Funny. You two be good, alright? No boys or ritual sacrifices,” he leaned forward, hugging El and placing a kiss on her head. “Happy birthday, kid.” he said, smiling down fondly at his daughter. 

Once the three girls were in the van and headed back for the apartment, Max spoke up. “So...what’s going on with Billy? Is he being an ass again?”

“What happened to not talking about it?” Teddi asked. 

“Why not? The boys aren’t here. So, what did he do? What was this thing that suddenly came up?” Max asked, leaning forward excitedly. 

Teddi looked at the two girls in the rearview mirror before letting out a sigh. “...I’m not really sure yet. Someone called right before we were supposed to leave for the party and he said he had to go. And when I asked him what was going on he got all...weird.” 

Max and El looked at each other. “Weird how? Like weird weird, or Billy weird?” 

“Billy weird. He’s been acting like this all day. Like he’s keeping a secret or something.”

“We should find him.” El said with a firm nod. 

Teddi laughed. “Find him and do what? Spy on him?” 

Max looked at her as if the answer was obvious. “Duh. If he’s with someone else you can catch him in the act and dump his ass.”

Teddi actually considered it for a moment before shaking her head. “That’s insane. What about the sleepover? And how would we even find him? You want me to drive all around Hawkins all night?” 

“We can still have the sleepover later,” Max shook her head. El shot her best friend a brief, knowing look. Max looked back at Teddi with an unsure expression. “...El can find him.”

“Oh yeah? How?”

El smiled at Teddi sheepishly. “...Long story.” 

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove fic #billy hargrove x oc

[fearfilledvirgil]

Ivity and Anx: part twenty-one

Summary: Virgil and Roman hate each other to the core of their beings, but both become friends with a new stranger via the Sarrahas Project. Virgil takes to Creativity as well as Roman does to Anxiety, but they don’t know the true identity of the ones they’re slowing falling for.

Word count: 6615

Warnings: Body image issues, self-destructive thoughts, eating disorder/starving purposefully, negative thoughts about body, mild panic attack, talk of court hearings and trials, mild talk of parental abuse, a lot of swearing

Pairings: Slowburn Prinxiety, Logicality

A/N: sometimes i wish this was the last chapter purely so it stopped at 21 like twenty one pilots. the summary stopped applying to the entire story like,, halfway through but i dont want to change it because thats what this story was originally centered around btw logan’s birthday is august 31st, 2001

taglist at the end; masterlist

Roman was looking at himself in the bathroom mirror. He’d gotten out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist and froze when he saw his reflection. He knew that he’d gain a little when because Virgil was making him eat at least two full meals a day, but what he saw was ridiculous. It was like he’d eaten nothing but butter, potato chips, and cake for the last week. He’d gained so much weight.

He couldn’t see his collarbones anymore. Roman ran his hands over where they once were. He could still feel them, but they weren’t as noticeable as before. Next Roman moved his hands to his face and squished it. There was far more chub to his cheeks than before.

Roman felt his breathing getting faster as his mind started racing. Roman, you fucking idiot! How could you let yourself eat that much food?! Look at yourself! You’ll never lose any of that back. You’ll be this ugly mess of a man forever now. Damn it, Roman! Slowly Roman sank to the floor and held his arms around his waist, trying to squeeze it in.

Virgil just finished with a court hearing to decide his fate. He found out that nothing would be set in stone until after the trial. However, he had no relatives to move in with while his father was in prison, so that left two options. He owed Patton more than anything because without him saying that his family would be willing to take Virgil in, he would’ve ended up in the foster care system. That idea scared him senseless because he’d never get out. Who would have wanted a teen as fucked up like him?

Virgil sighed as he unlocked the door to Roman’s house, glad that Roman had lent him the key before his hearing. It felt weird walking into the house without Roman next to him. Almost like he didn’t belong there. He looked around the bottom floor to tell Roman the news. When he didn’t see Roman downstairs he decided to head upstairs to the room he was staying in to start folding his clothes and tell him after.

Once he got to the top of the stairs he could faintly hear sobs from the other side of the closed bathroom door. He didn’t see the other car in the driveway--just Roman’s in the street--so he knew Roman was the only one home. Virgil quickly rushed to the door and knocked on it, his anxiety going through the roof. “Princey?” He listened but the only noise that answered him was a choked sob. His hand grasped the gold doorknob handle. “Ro, I’m coming in.” Virgil quickly turned the doorknob and rushed inside, glad that it was unlocked. His heart broke when he saw Roman curled in on himself on the floor. He rushed to the other boy’s side and kneeled next to him. Hesitantly, he put his hands on Roman’s shoulders like Logan often did to him. He tried to quell the awkward feeling rising in his stomach brought on by Roman’s shirtless shoulders. “Princey. Look at me.” Roman shook his head, still crying and still facing the ground. He said something, but it was too faint for Virgil to understand. “Ro, please. You need to look at me. I need to know what’s wrong.” Virgil hated how his voice broke on the word ‘please,’ but he didn’t care. Roman needed help. Slowly, as if doing the action in water, Roman lifted his head just enough that he could look at Virgil from under his wet hair. “You don’t wanna look at my ugly face.” Roman mumbled, barely loud enough to be heard. Virgil felt his heart break once again. “Roman,” he started, voice almost wavering. The name felt odd on his tongue, but a good kind of odd. “Your face is not ugly.” “Yes, it is!” Roman screamed. Virgil was taken back by the sudden change but did not move. “It’s hideous and fat! I’m fucking fat, Virgil! Look at me! You can’t see my fucking collar bones anymore and my fucking face is huge and you can see my stomach and I don’t have any fucking abs anymore and it’s all just ugly!” “It is not ugly, Princey, nor are you fat. You’ve started eating regularly. After so long of you starving yourself your body thinks it’s going to happen again, so it tries to fight that. Fuck, I wish I knew as much as Logan right now. He’d be able to explain why better than me. I looked it up before, and your body holds onto the fat for a while after you stop starving yourself so it can burn it later if you stop eating again. But once it realizes you’re eating regularly without starving it, it’ll burn that fat away. You don’t have to starve yourself to look thin. Just give your body time.” “I don’t have that time! Damn it, Virgil, you don’t get it! I have to look good because it’s how I’m supposed to as the Prince! This this this useless ugly flab is going to ruin that!” Tears were streaming down Roman’s face. Virgil didn’t know how to help his friend. He knew that he wanted to because he cared deeply for him, maybe even loved him in a way. Closing his eyes, Virgil tried to remember how Logan helped him through a freakout. Right now he just hoped he would find a way to help Roman like he’d been helped. “Roman. Roman, I want you to take a deep breath for me okay? Do you think you can do that?” Virgil watched as Roman tried to take one but it came out shaky. “It’s okay Roman. Roman, we can do it again. I’m going to count it out with you okay? Ready?” Roman watched his friend help him through the breathing exercise that he had used to help calm Virgil down. It was slow going, every few breaths at first, Roman would let a sob escape. Virgil never seemed upset by that. He just kept reassuring that it would be okay and went back to counting. Eventually Roman was able to do one full set without sobbing, then a second. After the fifth cycle of breathing Virgil smiled at Roman. “Good job.” Gently he used his sweater paw to wipe the tears off the other man’s face. “You did really good, Roman.” Roman couldn’t help but sniff. “Thank you.” He said softly. “Of course, Sir Sings-a-lot.” There was a faint smile tugging on Virgil’s lips. “Look, I know that dealing with… shit, what does Logan call them? Cognitive… something. Fuck,” Roman couldn’t help but smile at how flustered Virgil was getting. “Anyway, it’s when your brain makes something out to be worse than it really is. Dealing with that is really hard, and I’m not expecting you to be better right now, but I want you to know that you are not ugly or fat. Yes, you’ve put on a couple pounds, but that’s your body trying to prepare to starve again. If you keep eating regularly your body will see that it doesn’t have to store those pounds anymore and it will be used up. “You’ll be looking like your stunning Princely self in no time,” Virgil’s heart beat slightly faster as he said that for a reason unknown to him. “But you have to keep eating how you have been. I know it’ll be hard but trust me. It will be worth it.” Roman couldn’t help but admit his heart did a flip at Virgil calling him ‘stunning’. “How do you know it’ll go away?” “Dude, I’m not Logan. I don’t have a list of reasons ready at the drop of a hat. But I looked into what your body does while combating an eating disorder before I knew you were Ivity. I wanted to know as much about what you were going through to help as much I could... Your body stores the fats of any food you eat so it has something to burn off when you stop eating again. That’s why everything looks worse than it actually is. But it will get burnt off when your body realizes that it doesn’t need to store it anymore.”

“How long do you think that will take?” Roman asked tentatively, shifting on the floor. As he became very aware that he was in nothing but a towel, a blush rose to his face.

Virgil noticed the blush but didn’t realize why. He’d forgotten about it himself. “It depends on you. If you keep eating like we have been, a couple weeks? If you go back to starving for any period of time it’ll be longer. But I’m going to be here to help you through it.” He gently moved his hand down to be reassuringly on Roman’s arm. In doing so his eyes were drawn to Roman’s body. As it dawned on him again why Roman was blushing, he couldn’t help but blush as well. The two boys sat flustered on the bathroom floor for a few moments. Roman was the first to speak. “Thank you, Virgil.” “Of course, Princey. It’s the least I could do after you pulled me back from several attacks. Sorry I wasn’t better at it.” Roman shrugged. “You didn’t know what would help me. And you tried which means a lot. Sorry for snapping at you.” “‘S okay. Logan’s heard what he’s deemed as my ‘demon voice’ a couple times when there was a really bad attack so I think it’s more normal.” “Your ‘demon voice?’” Roman asked, raising his eyebrow. “He said it sounds like my voice gets lower when I’m dealing with some really bad stuff. I can’t tell the difference but I guess Logan can.” “Interesting,” Roman commented, remembering something similar happening during Virgil’s worst attack. “I don’t want to hear that more than once.” “What, scared?” Virgil teased him. “I thought Princes were supposed to deal with scary things?” “Ha. Ha.” Roman answered sarcastically with a smile before looking more serious. “I don’t want to know what it sounds like again because I don’t want you to have an attack that bad again.” Virgil’s jaw dropped open for a minute. “Uh… I…” “It’s okay. I know you were trying to get me to smile. And it worked.” “Good.” “Now if you don’t mind I’m going to go change and you can tell me how your court hearing went.” “Yeah. Sounds good.”

Virgil scrambled to his feet and offered Roman a hand. Roman accepted it and got to his feet, his other hand holding the towel in place. After both were standing Virgil let go of Roman’s hand and rushed out of the room, his cheeks still faintly rosy. What he couldn’t see was the tint on Roman’s face as well as he walked to his bedroom to change. Roman closed the door to his room and sighed. He knew that Virgil was right, but it was still hard. He felt gross in his own body. Quickly he got dressed, putting on one of his baggier shirts. Once that was done he walked back into the bathroom to hang the towel back up. With a sigh, he turned and faced the mirror.

Without knowing why Roman gently poked at his cheeks and then his stomach. “It will be alright, Roman.” He said softly under his breath, hoping that saying the words out loud would make them come true. “You’ll be ok. You’ll look like you again. Patton will still love you like this. Virgil will still care for you. He already proved that.” With a deep breath, Roman squared his shoulders and walked out of the bathroom towards his brother’s old room. Gently he knocked on the open door.

Virgil looked up from his folding. “Hey. Come on in.” “Hey.” Roman walked in and gently sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb any of the folded clothes. “Want some help?” “You don’t have to.” “I don’t mind.” “Alright. No point in turning down the help.” The two worked in silence for several minutes. Roman was worried about what Virgil found out at the hearing but he wasn’t sure how to ask. Virgil wanted to tell Roman the good news about Patton’s family taking him in, but he figured the monotonous task would help calm him. Finally, Roman’s curiosity got the better of him. “Hey, Virge?” “Yeah?” “How did the thing go?” “It went okay. I found out nothing is set in stone but for now, I’m away from him. Since he’s in jail.” “That’s awesome, Virgil,” Roman’s relief was clear. “Wait. Where are you going to go then? Are you going into the system?” Panic was showing again. He hated that he couldn’t help. His mothers knew that he felt strongly for Virgil, but they were worried that if he stayed for much longer, there would be constant ‘alone time’ between them. Virgil shook his head. “Thankfully no. If no one had offered to take me in I would’ve, but Patton’s family is going to take me in. They said they’ll have a small bed ready for me in Patton’s room tomorrow and that I can have the couch tonight.” “I’m glad that his family is willing to take you in. I’m sorry you couldn’t stay here. My moms were being ridiculous in their reasoning, but there’s no arguing with them.” “It’s alright, Roman. Honestly. The fact they let me stay for so long means a lot.” “Still,” He saw Virgil shrug. “Anyway, you’ll like spending that much time with Patton. I think.” “It’ll be tiring, but I think I’ll get used to it. I like Patton so it’s a bonus.” “You’ll get used to his excitement.” The worry Roman had throughout the day was finally gone. He knew that Patton would be able to help Virgil and keep him safe. “And I’m glad you like him.” “Even if I didn’t, I would be seeing a lot of him between you and him being best friends and him and Logan being together.” “Fair point. So it really is a bonus that you like him.” Virgil nodded. “I owe him a lot. If he didn’t talk his family into taking me in I would’ve ended up in the system until I was eighteen. No one would want someone so fucked up.” “You don’t know that. And you’re not that fucked up.” Roman became defensive when the other boy scoffed. “You’re not.” “Seriously, Princey? The guy who has anxiety and panic attacks basically every day isn’t fucked up? If I’m not fucked up then I don’t know who is.” “You have effects of your life showing themselves. Honestly, if anyone went through what you did and didn’t have some pretty bad anxiety, I’d think they would be pretty messed up. You have the anxiety because of what you went through. What was it Patton told you? ‘Scars are a tapestry of our experiences’ I think it was. Think of your anxiety as another scar. It shows you that you survived a horrible experience.” “Well aren’t you one for turning manure into flowers.”  Virgil said dryly, though he couldn’t help but feel a little bit better about his anxiety. “It’s a gift,” Roman replied with a small smile tugging on the corner of his lips. “Seriously, I think you’re less fucked up than I am.” “Okay, now that is a load of fucking shit, Ro.” “I don’t think it is.” “You feel the way you do because that’s how society has made you feel. If you can’t see your ribs and collarbones and don’t have a six-pack, you’re not handsome. But they’re wrong. And what you’re feeling isn’t bad or stupid. You’re going against what others have shoved down your throat for years and it’s even harder for you since you’re working in the part of society that idolizes that look. But you can still be handsome without looking that way. Patton doesn’t fit that mold and yet Logan gets all tongue-tied around him.” “That’s because Patton is easy to love.” “Not in the same way. You don’t love Patton the same way Logan does.” Roman shrugged. “I still don’t like how I am.” “No one really likes who they are. But with time they learn to accept who they are. I know I’m a fucked up person with horrible anxiety and scars covering my body. And for a long time, I thought the scars were ugly and just made me even worse than I already was.” Virgil raised his hand to stop Roman from protesting. “But you and Patton are helping me see that I’m more than my scars. That they don’t show who I am. Just like you not liking your body doesn’t show who you are. And with support and time, you’ll learn to accept it. Besides, it’s nicer to hug someone who doesn’t feel like a skeleton.” Roman couldn’t argue with Virgil’s last comment. He enjoyed Patton’s hugs immensely, partially due to the fact that there was more to hug and that he flowed warmth and comfort. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he wondered if he was nicer to hug now. Patton would tell him he was always nice to hug though so Roman didn’t know if he’d ever get the true answer. “Maybe...” Roman you know you’ll never accept yourself, why even lie? “You will, Princey. Just give it time.” Virgil looked at Roman intensely. “To quote Patton, ‘you’re stronger than you seem.’ Just keep moving forward.” “You don’t play fair, Virgil. You turned Patton’s words on me.” “You started it. I’m just returning the favor.” The duo finished folding the clothes in silence. Virgil gently put them into the backpack that Patton lent him. He put the PJs on the top as a reminder to wash and return them to Roman as soon as he could. As much as Roman was glad Virgil was staying with Patton he didn’t want to let the emo leave. He enjoyed spending time with Virgil and having him around. It helped pushed Roman’s fears away knowing that he could protect the lanky boy if he needed. Roman knew that he was safe at Patton’s at well but it didn’t make it easier. “-ey. Ivity.” Virgil’s voice broke through to Roman. “I’m sorry. What?” “I said Patton was talking about doing brunch tomorrow to celebrate getting a roommate.” “Oh. That would be fun.” “I thought it would be nice.” Just then the doorbell rang. “That’s probably Patton.” “I’ll walk you down.” Virgil picked up the backpack and stood up. Roman stood a moment later and lead the way out of the room into the main floor. Virgil put the bag down to grab his shoes as Roman opened the door. “Hi, Ro!” Patton greeted cheerfully. “Hey, Pat. Virge is just getting his shoes on.” Roman moved to let the younger boy in. Patton stepped into the house, closing the door behind him. “I’m pretty sure that Virgil already told you but I was thinking of you, me, Virgil and Logan going out for brunch tomorrow to celebrate. Plus I think it’d be a nice way to kind of relax, even for a little while.” And for Lolo’s birthday but if I say anything in front of Virgil he might tell Logan. “He did. And it sounds wonderful.” Patton bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. “It’s going to be so exciting having a roommate and someone my own age at the house.” “I’m like a year older than you Patton.” Virgil said, slinging his backpack over one shoulder. “That’s nothing. We’re still in the same grade so we’re basically the same age” “Whatever you say, Pat.” There was a small smile forming on Virgil’s lips. “Are you ready to go?” “I am.” He turned to look at Roman. “Thank you Princey. For everything.” “You’re very welcome Virgil. I’ll still be here in you need anything.” “Likewise. See you tomorrow then.” “Until then my wonderful subjects.” Roman said with a smile, striking a pose. “I take it back, I thank you for everything but that.” Patton couldn’t help but smile proudly at the two boys in front of him. “See you tomorrow kiddo!” He said as he and Virgil walked out of the house. Virgil followed behind Patton. Despite everything he’d been through this was the first time he felt truly free. Staying with Roman was a reprise from everything, but now knowing that his father was going to be away from him, even for a while, made him feel weightless. He watched as Patton started the car and turned to wave at Roman. As Patton started to drive away he couldn’t help but look forward to his new future, for however long it lasted.

Patton woke up early in the morning as he often did. He stretched his arms over his head and smiled, happy for the new day. It was an extremely important day. It was the first morning that Virgil was staying with him as well as Logan’s birthday. Patton practically bounced off the bed and made his way to the closet. The youngest boy pulled out two boxes. One contained a joke gift he was going to give Logan, which was cat ears that moved by the power of brainwaves. The other contained the real gifts of a periodic table shower curtain and a TARDIS cookie jar. Patton quickly wrapped the two up neatly, putting a note to open the one containing the gag gift first. Once that was completed, he quietly tiptoed downstairs so he wouldn’t wake Virgil so he could start breakfast. Patton didn’t need to worry, however, because when he reached the bottom of the stairs he noticed Virgil sitting up on the couch. “Morning, Virgil.” He said softly. Virgil’s eyes shot up, fear clear in them until they landed on Patton. Recognition crossed the emo’s face and he visibly calmed. “Oh. Morning Pat.” “Are you okay, kiddo?” Worry ran though Patton like a racecar. The fact that Virgil was so terrified of someone saying good morning to him broke Patton’s heart. A lot of things Virgil was doing was breaking his heart. “Yeah.” Virgil lied. When he noticed Patton’s look of ‘don’t lie to me; I see straight through you’, he sighed, knowing that he’d be better off with telling the truth. “Didn’t sleep well. Still sort of worried that your family might change their mind. And just worried.” Patton furrowed his eyebrows but continued to walk into the kitchen. He knew what Virgil meant by saying ‘just worried’ but he wasn’t surprised. That’s a part of the reason for the lunch today. A way to get Virgil’s mind off of things, even for a little while. “Virgil, they wouldn’t do that. They’re not that kind of people… but I understand the fear. Tell you what, why don’t we make a quick breakfast, and then we can get ready to meet with the others? I wanna tell the people at the restaurant that it’s Lo’s birthday before he gets there.” Panic crossed Virgil’s face as he shifted on his makeshift bed. “Today’s August 31st? Fuck.. fuck! I didn’t finish his present,” Virgil’s hand flew to his hair to tease on it. “He’s going to be so fucking upset. Fuck.” “Language,” Patton said firmly, still standing in the kitchen. “But,  it’ll be okay, my friend. We can stop on the way and pick him up something from you if you want. He would never hate you, especially over forgetting a gift with everything else going on,” He took a small step toward Virgil, but there was still plenty of space between the couch and where Patton stood next to the kitchen island. “It’ll be okay.” Virgil tried to bring his panic back in check. He knew that Patton was right, but that didn’t stop the guilt from rising up in his chest. He’d never forgotten to buy, or finish making, Logan something for his birthday since the two became friends. You fucked this up too Virgil. His mind started to play. Logan’s going to hate you. He’s going to tell Patton that you’re a horrible friend. You fucking ruin everything, Virgil. Patton saw Virgil slowly start to spiral down, but he had no idea what to do. Since the older didn’t like to be touched much, and the younger comforted mainly through touch, the two were at an impasse. In an attempt to calm Virgil’s fast running brain, Patton sat down next to Virgil. He hoped the warmth and solidness of a friend next to him were grounding to the older boy. He seemed to be right, as Virgil leaned toward Patton. He didn’t touch him, but there was definitely a move to get closer.

In an attempt to further calm his friend, Patton decided to do what he saw Logan doing sometimes in the midst of panic: ask yes or no questions. “Did you already start on something for Logan’s birthday?” Virgil made a noise of agreement. “Good. I’ll tell you what, do you want to get ready and we can stop at your house?” Another sound of agreement from Virgil. “We can finish the present and maybe get him a jar of Crofters on the way as an apology for not trying the delicious jam for so long?” Patton teased, but it wasn’t in a mean kind of tone. He knew now with Virgil’s dad arrested, he would be safe going back there. Plus, going back to a place that was the home of so much trauma would be easier with a friend by Virgil’s side. Virgil couldn’t help but chuckle at that, the calm way Patton spoke mixed with the kind joking helped put him more at ease. “I think I’d owe him a lifetime supply of Crofters if that were the case. And… thank you. For coming up with a solution,” He was definitely calmer than before, but still was a bit shaky when he took in a deep breath. “I’m good at pointing out problems, but not really solving them.”

“No problem, kiddo. Now, where do you live again?”

Virgil and Patton were already sitting at Logan’s favorite corner booth at the Corner Cafe when Roman walked in. Patton saw him first, since he was the one facing the door, and waved him over. Roman smiled upon seeing Patton, walking over quickly and sliding in next to Virgil. He placed the bright red, glittery gift bag on the floor by his feet. “Greetings, wonderful citizens!” Roman declared. He must have been feeling better from his break down the day prior. Patton giggled, his body wiggling in his seat as he did so. “Hi, Ro!” “Uh, Princey?” Virgil asked, making a facial expression that was a cross between a sneer and one of being uncomfortable. “Yes, Yung-brutting?” Roman turned to face Virgil instead of Patton as he talked, using a pun off of the musician YUNGBLUD. “Switch spots with me?” Virgil hated feeling trapped between the wall and Roman. He always needed a clear path of escape. It was one of the reasons he and Logan’s favorite booth was right next to the emergency exit. But now, Roman was blocking his path out. Roman could tell that Virgil was feeling uncomfortable, even behind that sneer. Without a second thought, he made a sound of agreement and moved out of the seat. Once Virgil had moved out as well, he slid back into it. Virgil sat next to Roman again with a small grunt, and an even smaller, “Thanks.” “You’re welcome.” Roman all but whispered back to him. “So, Roman, how was your morning so far?” Patton broke into the conversation, almost interrupting Roman, as he didn’t hear the exchange of thanks. “It was wonderful. I had some toast with Crofters and an apple for breakfast.” “So it made you look like even more of an asshole?” Virgil quipped. “Language young man.” Patton chastised him. At the same time, Roman made an offended noise, doing his signature mock hurt hand pose. It was, thankfully, quieter than normal though. He must have been avoiding attention at the moment, which made both people at the table happy. “Excuse you! And I understand that reference, but still, excuse you!” Virgil could help but chuckle, but before he could respond Logan, walked up to the table with ‘Salutations’ on his tongue. His eyes immediately found the presents under the table, which made him crack a tiny grin. “Hi, Lolo!” Patton said as he stood up and hugged the other. “Happy Birthday.” Logan gently wrapped his arms around the shorter boy, still not completely comfortable with just how affectionate Patton was. He hugged back anyway because he would do anything for Patton, even if the touch was still a little too white-hot on his skin. “Thank you, Patton.” Virgil could tell that his friend wasn’t completely comfortable with the exchange. While he didn’t know a lot of Logan’s past or the reason why physical signs of affection were so odd for him, he understood. That’s why most of the time the two would do hand touches to show the care or concern. Actually, that’s how Logan putting his hands firmly on Virgil’s shoulders to help ground him started. “What’s up, Pocket Protector?” He asked as Patton slid back into the booth, scooting over far enough for Logan to join him. “Nothing truly,” Logan answered as he sat. “It has been a mostly peaceful morning, though I had overslept which will throw off my circadian rhythm until I am able to correct it.” He noticed that Roman had a confused expression. “Simply put, I will need to fix my sleeping and waking schedule.” “Ah. Thank you for not expecting us all to be nerds and understanding that.” Logan rolled his eyes as Patton giggled. “Well, it’s your birthday. You’re allowed to do what you want today.” “Honestly I wish for a peaceful, relaxing day among friends.” “I think we can manage that one for ya Lo,” Virgil said, knowing that Logan’s life had been thrown into chaos lately. “Let me take a wild guess what you’re getting. Cuz it’s not like you’ve ever gotten it before.” There was a playful yet knowing smirk on Virgil’s lips. Logan rarely differed in his order since he found his favorite. Logan couldn’t help the fond smile that tugged on his lips. “You’re correct.” “What is it you normally get, Lolo?” Patton asked, curious. “Eggs Benedict with an English muffin on the side.” Both Logan and Virgil said in unison. Patton couldn’t help the loving giggle that escaped him. “Well, that sounds eggcellent.”

Roman chuckled at the pun while Logan playfully rolled his eyes. “What are you going to get, Pat?” “I’m gonna get the strawberry pancakes with extra strawberries! What about you, Ro?” “I’m not entirely sure. The spinach and cheese scramble doesn’t sound too bad.” “Nothing this place has is bad.” Virgil assured him. Roman nodded. “What about you?” “Half an order of french toast and a side of hash browns.” “Is that enough food for you kiddo?” Patton asked worriedly. Virgil nodded. “It’s plenty of food.” “If you’re sure.” “It’s his normal order and he occasionally has a few bites left on his plate.” Logan reassured his Heart. When the server came, the four ordered their food as well as their drinks. Logan and Virgil got a cup of coffee, Roman ordered a cup of green tea, and Patton got hot cocoa with whipped cream. Once that was taken care of, Patton pulled out the joke gift. “Happy Birthday, Lo.” “Thank you, Patton.” Logan gingerly took the gift and unwrapped it. He had a look of intrigue and surprise as he pulled the present out. “I-I am at a loss for words Patton. It’s definitely… unique. I’m curious as to how it works. How exactly it reads one's brainwaves to know how the mechanical ears should react is interesting.” “Great cheese pastry he likes it.” Roman’s awe was clear in the tone of his voice. “It is a gift I was not expecting but I am curious about it.” Patton’s smile widened. “Actually I got you another gift too. This one was a joke gift. I’m really glad you like it though.” Logan’s mouth dropped open. “You mean to tell me this isn’t a cunning plan to get me to understand your love of cats?” Patton giggled. “No. But you should learn to love cats.” He handed the other gift over. Logan opened it and smiled at the thoughtfulness. He had told Patton before that the curtain for his shower at the dorm was in dire need of being replaced. Also, it was amazing that Patton remembered his admiration for Doctor Who. An added bonus is he could put many of the Crofters thumbprint cookies in it whenever Patton made some for him. “Thank you, Patton. These are very well thought out gifts and I appreciate them greatly.” “I’m glad you like them Lolo!” Patton smiled widely. “My turn Calculator Watch.” Roman pulled out his sparkly bag and slid it over to Logan. “Thank you, Roman.” Logan hid his annoyance at the glitter that was falling on the table. One thing he noticed about the singer is his love for theatrics and flair. Carefully, Logan pulled out a set of thirty colored pens. Despite his preference for black pens, he couldn’t help but notice these were set in the color of the rainbow, going from dark red and slowly grading into purple by the end. They would be good for color coding. Next, he pulled out a six-pack of highlighters. The next item was a large pack of multi-colored sticky notes. Reaching further into the bag, Logan removed five different Washi Tapes. To his slight annoyance, two of them were glitter based, but it appeared as if the glitter would stick to the tape and not fall on everything. The final item was a dark navy blue bullet journal. Curious about the color of the paper, Logan opened it. To his relief, he saw the paper was an off-white shade as the stark white of some made him more prone to headaches if he stared at it for too long. Despite his initial hesitancy, this was truly a well thought out gift.

“Thank you, Roman,” Logan said as he returned the items to the bag. “As much as the excessive glitter that is now on the table is infuriating, it is an extremely practical gift.” “Well, I had to give some sort of excitement to the gift. Besides, anytime you see the glitter you’ll think of me.” “Whatever you say.” There was a kindness in Logan’s eyes that Roman caught. “So...um…” Virgil said, looking slightly unsure of his gift. He knew that it would mean a lot but that didn’t hide the fact he was worried Logan would be disappointed in it. “Here.” Virgil handed Logan a small box that is wrapped in the same paper as Patton’s. “Thank you, Virgil.” Logan took it and opened it carefully. Inside was a heavy spiral notebook. The front and back black covers were plastic as opposed to the thin cardboard material of most. Gently he opened the front cover to check the color of paper, though he knew Virgil knew about how the colored affected him. What he wasn’t expecting was to find writing on the front page. Carefully his eyes scanned over the first paragraph. ‘Hey there Logan. This is Virgil in the past talking. From April 20th of 2018 to be exact, because you like to be exact. So anyway, in this notebook, I’ve written every memory I have ever made with you. Plus how I feel about them. It’s going to be a lot of fucking reading (and it will be kind of messy at times, you know my handwriting fucking sucks. And fuck I wish I could rip out pages but I can’t, they’re numbered) but I know that you can get through it. I know YOU, Pocket Protector. Just like you know me. And honestly? I’m glad I know you. And, thanks for being in my life. Fuck that was cheesy.’ Logan couldn’t help the tears that were forming in his eyes. Gently he took his napkin and dabbed his eyes under his glasses. He knew that Virgil must have had to save for weeks to be able to buy this notebook, but he didn’t care. The fact that he had taken the time to write all of these things down meant more to Logan than anything he could’ve gotten. “Virgil…”

“I know its a little over the top, but you already have like 15 notebooks for notes, and I knew that one more fucking empty notebook wouldn’t be of any use--” Virgil was rattling off, not looking at Logan but instead at the table.

“I love it.” Logan managed, a small crack in his voice in the middle of the word ‘love.’ That made Virgil look up, which made him see the tears still welling in Logan’s eyes.

“Oh, shit, I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“Just shhh and take the compliment, Virge.” Roman whispered from his spot in the corner. A small glance from both of the darker wearing boys saw that he was smiling fondly. His hand was over his mouth as if he were trying to hide the smile. He loved being able to read upside down. And the fact that Logan had set the notebook flat on the table helped. Patton silently passed his napkin to Logan once he finished reading the paragraph. It took all he had to not coo and squeal at the adorableness of what was written. Virgil had told him earlier what was in the notebook, but seeing Virgil’s heart painted across the page was a whole different story. Logan nodded thanks to Patton as he turned and blew his nose. This moment proved to everyone who called him emotionless that they were wrong. Logan knew that he felt emotions; there was a barrage of them hitting him now. Undoubtedly, love was the one he felt the strongest. It was almost like he could feel the love that Virgil poured into his writing. “I love it,” Logan repeated again once he got himself composed. “Honestly, Virgil. This is a wonderful gift and I... I look forward to reading it.”

“Really?” Virgil couldn’t keep the awe from his voice. “Really.” Logan gently closed the book back up and slid it carefully into the box that also held the cat ears. “Thank you, Virgil.” “You’re, uh, welcome Logan.” Patton smiled widely at the little group of friends. It was clear that the four of them all cared for one another. His heart swelled with love as the food was brought out. He wanted to hug them all close to him and never let go. However, with the table between them all, it was impossible to do. What was possible was for him to gently hug Logan’s arm in a show of love. “Thank you, Patton.” Logan said gently as he took a sip of his coffee. “You’re welcome Lolo.” The four friends ate in mostly silence, just enjoying one another's company. Logan found the peacefulness to be helpful for Virgil which was an added bonus. The young emo was relaxed for the first time in a few months. Logan would cherish this time forever. He just hoped that the calm would last.

And then, the calm did not last.

next part

Taglist: @rileyfirstname @verymuchanidiot @definentlynotjustanotherlemon @silversmith-91 @kanejandkruge @sander-fander-sides @lovecrazyjennybear @the-incedible-sulk @hexdream18243 @crows-with-hats @monikastec @definenormalifyoucan @i-am-absolute-fandom-trash @applecannibal @cats-with-blogs @bubblycricket @witchcraft--and--wizardry @bunnyartie @quietlypondering @elusivefalsehoods @hghrules @royallyanxious @quietwords-loudthoughts @squishynonbinarytwink @sortablue @illogical-anxieties @savingshae @a-fander-named-skittles @thelowlysatsuma @ughthatsprettygay @im-so-infinitesimal @certifiedtrashxx @karmels-stuff @sanders-sides-trash-blog @musicqueen1239 @the-average-loner @nicological1 @oh-star-how-the-mighty-fall @surleytemple @nervous-collection @asapmy @super-magical-wizard @arandompasserby @serenitythepanther @ijustrealizedhowdumbmynamewas @kaioanxiety @liz-a-bell @afilhadehades-blog @coffee-fueled-art @multifandomwierdo

#fail's writing #fails writing #i forgot which one was my actual tag akjsdfs #sanders sides fanfiction #sanders sides #virgil sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #roman angst #virgil angst #im really bad at remebering to post but here you go my dudes

[beelieveinfandom]

A Better Birthright - Chapter Seven

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9                          AO3 Link  8000 words

“You seem excited,” Mizar said to Alcor.

Sitting in the tent that was among the things that the Pack of Even Hands had given her for her help, she looked up from the sigils she was methodically drawing on a pile of paper.

*Of course I am. It’s been forever but we’re finally practically there!*

“It’s been two months since I first summoned you at most.”

Alcor hung his head back. *For-ev-er,* he drawled.

“You do realize that things aren’t going to get any more exciting once we get there, right?”

*But we’ll have finally accomplished step one. Anyway, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the Falls; it’ll be nice to go there again.*

“You can go anywhere you want. Why haven’t you gone back to the place already?”

Alcor drew in some air. *I’ve been kinda avoiding it since the Great Calamity, to be honest. The town that used to be there meant a lot to me, and the thought of seeing it destroyed… It’s been long enough now, though. I can’t avoid it forever, and the history is still there even if the town isn’t.*

Mizar set down the sigil she was holding. “Wait, if you haven’t been to this place since the Great Calamity, how could you possibly be sure the library is still intact?”

*Because some of us aren’t mortals dependent upon practically useless senses for all our information. I can know things about something without being in its physical proximity.*

“Well, all right, but if we go all this way just to find that it’s been gone for centuries I’m going to be pissed.”

*Look,* said Alcor, *the library has a connection to my Dreamscape, which is still there, and since it’s not like a building can get up and walk away, there really isn’t any way that it won’t be there. It’ll be fine.*

“It better be fine.”

*And it will be. Now, do you wanna head out or are we going to sit here talking all day?*

“It’s barely light out,” Mizar said.

*How is it that you’ve been evolving for almost 4 billion years and you still have forms that are dependent on external light sources? Grow up already.*

“We can’t all be perfect spirits.”

*Well, that sounds like a personal problem.*

She grinned. “Not as personal a problem as your face!”

*If you want my face to be a problem, I can certainly make it one.* Alcor’s face started to melt, parts of it dripping onto the floor. *I could make it acidic and then it would very much be your problem.*

“Could you take an insult for once in your life?” Mizar set her sigil papers aside, stood up and stretched. “Anyway, I think you’re right in that it’s about time to be going. I wanna see this library already. So get your face back together and let’s go!”

The morning went quickly, and soon they were back on the road. The woods that surrounded the crumbling interstate were thin here, largely coniferous but interspersed with maples and oaks.

The trees were getting thicker, and becoming more predominantly pines and spruces.

As the sun approached its zenith it illuminated a fairly nice day. It wasn’t too hot or cold, the birds were singing, and some flowers bloomed among the underbrush, filling the air with their fragrances. They were almost at their destination, and everyone was feeling pretty good.

A large faded sign ahead had just enough of its paint left on it that Mizar could make out the words ”Gravity Falls”.

“This is it,” she said. “We’re about to enter one of the most historically magical places on the planet.”

“That was surprisingly easy,” said Fred as they approached the billboard. “Way Catreena was talking… I wasn’t expecting the trip to be such a simple sandwich.”

“Well, it’s not over yet,” Mizar said simply. “Like I said, historically this was a very magical place, so who knows what it became like when the Calamity happened. We should really be prepared for anything - ”

They passed the billboard.

Very abruptly, the world shifted. Alcor became visible, the road they were on was gone, and around them were pine trees, all equally spaced apart, that seemed just ever so slightly off. There was no more birdsong. There was no more underbrush. The sky was an illuminating uniform grey, as if clouds had rushed in to cover the afternoon sun.

“ - once we get there,” finished Mizar. She looked around, and turned to Alcor. “You wouldn’t happen to know what just happened, would you?”

“Oh, I remember this!” Alcor said. “I set it up to protect the town if things went wrong. Couldn’t save anyone from the Calamity, unfortunately, but I guess it must have been triggered when everything went south.”

“If you set it up then you’d know how to get through it, right?”

“Of course I know how to get through it,” Alcor said, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s really quite simple. The woods are smaller than they appear: if you go off of the path you’ll end up back where you started, and since everywhere here looks the same this creates the illusion that the place is infinite, but really it’s only a few square kilometers. If you follow the true path, you’ll find there are eighteen special trees that have keyholes in them. At the base of six of these trees is buried a key. Each key corresponds to a different lock than the one it’s buried next to. Unlocking all six of the true locks will trigger a door to appear at the far end of the forest, but if you put any key in the wrong lock it will make the whole puzzle reset. Once the door spawns you need to activate the four crystals that are located one third of the way to the top of select trees. Now it’s very important that you activate the Northernmost one first, then the one to the East, followed by the one to the West then the Southernmost one. Unless one of the crystals flashes chartreuse: then you need to go South-North-East-West. I don’t remember what happens if you get the order wrong but it’s bad. Anyway, once all the crystals are activated all you have to do is get to the door before the purple fog reaches the forest floor!”

Mizar narrowed her eyes. “So how do you actually get through here?”

“I just told you. Were you not listening? I could go though it again.”

“No, I was listening,” Mizar said slowly. “I was just wondering what the actual way to get through here was because what you just described is the single most bullshit puzzle I’ve ever heard and I refuse to believe that it’s the only way.”

Alcor shrugged. “Your lack of belief isn’t my problem.”

“Okay, so just to be clear,” Nav said, “there is one path that progresses you through the forest, but outside of a few trees with holes in them everything is identical, and if you step off the path you go back to the beginning?”

“Yep,” said Alcor.

Nav thought a moment.

“So in order to tell if you’re making any progress,” they said, “you would have to do something along the lines of leaving something on the ground and seeing if you run into it again?”

“Pretty much yeah.”

“For several kilometers of path.”

“Yes.”

“Mizar’s right: this sounds literally impossible.”

Alcor drooped a little. “Oh come on, it isn’t that bad.”

“We will run out of food,” Plessy said.

“Oh. Right. Food. Mortals need things like that, don’t they?”

“You made this,” Mizar said. “Can’t you just get us past it without going through all of that?”

Alcor looked away from her. “Um. No. No I cannot.”

“Why would you ever make something like this that you can’t bypass?”

He twiddled with his hair.

“Well you see, sometimes I get a little… overcome with destructive desire, and lose sight of things I care about, or the consequences of my actions, or really anything besides wrecking things, and I tend to be rather impatient when I get like that, so I figured if I ever got like that too close to town, I could protect it by surrounding it with something that requires a lot of focus to get through.” He scratched his head absently. “And then I might have forgotten about it just a little.”

“Okay whatever,” said Nav. “This is clearly a dead end, sorry Mizar. How do we get out of here?”

“Oh come on, you’re not even going to try to solve it?” he whined.

Nav’s aura went dark and they glared in a way that Alcor didn’t even realize they were capable of.

“Leaving is much simpler,” Alcor explained. “If you keep walking past where the door will spawn there’s an exit.”

“So we still have to navigate kilometers of invisible path,” they said.

“Oh yeah, that is a bit of a design flaw isn’t it?”

“I officially hate you now.”

“So I don’t mean to be brightly clad at the funeral or whatever, but shouldn’t there be like, a lot of bodies? If people got here and got stuck and couldn’t get out and there’s no food…”

“Oh, I didn’t want any progress I made on previous attempts to stick so the whole thing resets to factory state once a month.”

“What happens if someone’s inside when it resets?” asked Nav, looking around concerned.

“Hmm, I guess they would just get dumped out into the nightmare realm, since that’s what’s between dimensions.”

“That’s not going to happen anytime soon, is it?”

“Oh no, we still have like two weeks.”

Mizar had pulled her staff out and stood tense, looking into the woods.

“You guys can leave if you want,” she said. “I’m solving this.”

“You’re going to die,” said Plessy.

“I’m going to get to that library. I’m going to heal the corruption. I’m not going to let some stupid convoluted puzzle change that!” she shouted. “But I’ll get you to the exit first - it will be good to have the whole path mapped out.”

“What are we going to use to mark the path anyway?” asked Nav. “I certainly don’t have several kilometers’ worth of crap that I’m willing to leave behind.”

“Leave that to me!” Mizar said with a grin.

She reached her arm deep in her pouch and pulled out a wonky looking rock, painted bright pink and glittery.

Nav tilted their head. “Why are you carrying a bunch of stuff you don’t want?”

“What else are you supposed to do when you get a pouch that has a room’s worth of space in it?”

It quickly became apparent that the path was a twisted, winding thing, making everything even more difficult than it already was. The uniform grey sky gave no hints at the passage of time, but after what was probably an hour or two they had only progressed down maybe a few hundred meters of path.

A strange noise could be heard in the distance. A continuous creaking groan, like something massive was getting pushed aside.

“You didn’t add any sort of consequence for taking too long, did you?” asked Mizar.

“No. I didn’t. There shouldn't be anything here that can be making noise except us.”

“Well, something clearly is making noise, and it’s not coming from behind us,” she said. “How could something be further down the path without us knowing about it?”

The noise continued, building in volume.

“They must have already been here. Catreena did say people had disappeared looking for Gravity Falls.”

“But how could anyone have possibly navigated this fucking piece of shit path without leaving shit behind?” asked Mizar.

“Maybe they’ve been here a long time and just… figured it out?”

“How‽” she shouted. “There is absolutely no way of telling if you’ve made progress unless you leave some landmarks for yourself!”

“How’s unimportant,” Plessy said. “What now?”

“Well, I can kill anything, so it’s not really cause for concern.”

The sound was getting very loud.

“This is something that invaded your ‘puzzle’ and can navigate it better than you can. How can you be sure it’s not more powerful than you?” asked Nav.

“Because nothing’s more powerful than me.”

Nav crossed their arms. “Then how can we get out of here by walking in a straight line?”

“Look, some entities have specific skills that I lack. That doesn’t mean that they are more powerful than I am.”

“Nav.” Plessy grabbed Nav’s arm and pointed towards where the noise was coming from.

“Holy shit,” said Nav.

Just barely visible past the eerily identical trees of the puzzle was a truly massive entity. It was a titch taller than the trees of the area, with a vaguely humanoid body plan overgrown with moss and vines. It looked like a very large dryad, with legs like tree trunks and huge arms. Its head was adorned with massive branches, or maybe antlers, that together were probably about as long as the entity was tall. Something was hanging from the mossy branches, but at their distance it was hard to tell what.

The entity was coming towards them, the earth - or whatever the ground here could be called accurately - shifting around them to make room. They didn’t appear to be walking - their legs seemed rooted - they just plowed through the ground.

“The Stormwalker,” Nav breathed. “They’re real.”

“How?” Alcor asked no one in particular. “This isn’t even a real forest. This isn’t... And just… ignoring the rules of the land. There are rules here! There’s no reason you should be able to waltz through my pocket dimension like it were a public park! How do you always do this?”

“Should we be worried?” Plessy asked. “Don’t they take hands?”

“Nah, they’re pretty cool,” Fred said. “I mean, there definitely is an awful lot of hands following them, but I don’t think they feel the need to take the hands of any random person they meet. I coulda just gotten lucky though, but I don’t think that’s the case.”

“You’ve met them before?”

“Yeah.” She scratched at her neck. “There was a time a while ago where, well, it wasn’t a good time. There were some guys and I think they wanted to sacrifice me or something? They were very insistent that I come with them and they were less than respectful of my personhood. Um. Anyway. This guy shows up like a blister on a blue moon and chases ‘em off. Showed me the way to town too.”

“It’s fine; it’s just the Woodsman. He helps people who get lost in the woods, and occasionally chops off the hands of those who would do harm unto others, but more importantly he shouldn’t be here! He always does this!”

“The Woodsman?” Mizar asked. “Isn’t that what you called the entity that you said was receiving the energy Fred was absorbing?”

“That’s the one. Don’t you see the resemblance?”

The Woodsman reached them and stopped. He stooped over and looked at Fred.

Mizar looked at the two.

The Woodsman was tall and menacing. At this distance the hands hanging from his antlers could be seen, as well as the massive axe, as tall as a person, that his left arm turned into. Mizar’s heart raced looking at him, even though she was fairly sure that she was safe.

Fred was short and could probably look less menacing if she really, really tried. She was looking into the dark pits of the Woodsman’s eyes, her own eyes wide and curious. She didn’t look like she was even mildly worried about the giant that towered above her.

“You know, I really don’t,” Mizar said.

“You’re saying that all that energy I absorb goes to this guy?” Fred asked. “How does that work?”

Alcor spread his fingers wide. “Magic,” he said.

“Well yes,” Fred said. “That is the assumption that I would make about the basic process that would allow something like this to happen. The question I was meaning to ask, I think, was how that magic would actually, from a more mechanical standpoint, actually function.”

Alcor waved his hands back and forth a little. “Shenanigans,” he said.

“So it would seem that you either don’t understand, or, if you do understand, you don’t feel like explaining it, which is fine. I probably wouldn’t understand an explanation anyway.”

Alcor shook his head. “I miss the good ol’ days when you could just say something worked by magic and people would leave it there. Now it’s all ‘what magic? How does it work? Could you draw a schematic diagram of the mana system?’ You all don’t even have electricity and you expect me to explain how magic works? It just does, okay?”

Mizar smiled slyly. “You have absolutely no idea how the Woodsman works, do you?”

“No! I don’t! By all accounts he shouldn’t exist!”

“Can you show us a way out of here?” Fred asked the Woodsman.

The Woodsman straightened up and turned around.

“I think he wants us to follow him,” Fred said.

“Well that sounds like a much better plan than trying to solve this awful puzzle,” muttered Nav.

“There’s nothing wrong with this puzzle. You guys are just boring,” Alcor muttered.

“Well you can stay and complete it if you really want,” Mizar said. “But we’re getting out of here.”

“There’s no way I’m abandoning you right before you get to Gravity Falls. I’ll solve this later.”

“Alright, it seems we’re all ten dimes to the dollar,” Fred said to the Woodsman. “Lead the way.”

The Woodsman started moving, and the group followed after him. Watching him move was a strange experience; he seemed to hold still and the world warped around him. He would go through a tree, and the two halves would stretch around him, revealing their unnaturally smooth insides, and then close back together behind him. The warping effect trailed after him a little, and the group made sure to stay close in the giant’s footsteps in case leaving the warping effect would subjugate them to the infuriating laws of the puzzle they were in again.

Returning back to the real world was just as abrupt as leaving it had been. There was no obvious barrier; there was simply an endless looking forest of identical trees one step and a very real forest with underbrush, a non-uniform sky, and real-looking trees the next step.

The trees here were almost entirely pines, with one major exception. Rising high above the other trees in the area, with a small clearing under its mighty branches, was an apple tree. Bunches of golden apples weighed down its branches. A smaller pine was grown into the side of the apple tree.

“So is this it?” Mizar breathed. “The woods of Gravity Falls? Where’s the library from here?”

Alcor was staring at a clearing in front of the apple trees.

“Hello? Earth to Mr. Demon?”

“Where is it?” he asked.

“That’s what I want to know,” said Mizar.

Alcor threw his arms up. “It’s supposed to be right here! Where did it go?”

She crossed her arms. “You’re telling me that the library, that we’ve been traveling over a month to get to, isn’t here. The library that you assured me wasn’t destroyed, that you specifically said would be here, isn’t here.”

“It should be right there! I don’t understand.”

Mizar turned around. “It’s fine,” she said. “We’ll figure something else out.”

“No it’s not fine,” Alcor said. “That building still has a presence in my dreamscape. I want to know where it is on the physical plane.”

“Hey, where did the Woodsman go?” asked Fred.

“Oh he probably just buggered off and did his own thing.”

“But how could he have done it without us noticing? He’s so loud when he moves,” Fred said.

“He’s always doing things that don’t make sense. Why bother worrying about it? You’ll never understand it anyway.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

“So does anyone else really want an apple or is it just me?” asked Fred.

“Are those apples safe to eat? The tree looks magic as all get out,” said Nav.

Alcor looked at the apple tree, at Henry’s tree. It was a lot bigger than the last time he saw it. The apples were much more golden, almost metallic now. It was different. The shack was gone and everything was so different. The town that he grew up in was gone, forever. He had already known that, he had, but the reality of it was now staring him in the face like some eldritch horror.

He shouldn’t have come. But he had, and there was no going back now.

“They’re perfectly safe to eat,” Alcor said absently.

He didn’t say that they made excellent cider that could make him drunk and how once drinking it caused Henry’s antlers to grow around a tree, getting him stuck. That they made the best pies he’d ever had, to this day, and how Acacia once traded all the ones the family had made for the holidays for very temporary invulnerability so she could see what it felt like to jump off the roof. Pies that he hadn’t had in so long, because there was no one left to make them. And now there wasn’t going to be anyone left to make pies to share with him, to talk about their ancestors, his family with.

He missed them all so much. He missed having a family that knew about him. There were still people descended from Mabel and the Pleiades alive; a good percent or two of the people originating from Earth had some of that lineage, but they didn’t have the history to go with it, didn’t have the Pines name, weren’t the same at all.

He picked an apple an bit into it. He had forgotten how bitter the skin was, how much more rewarding that made the sweet flesh taste.

Mizar was sitting cross-legged on the ground, staring at the massive tree, thinking. She wasn’t sure what to do next. She had been counting on the library lead going through. She had been counting on her ultra powerful demon companion actually knowing what he was talking about.

Still, disappointments aside, this had been the most magical place in the world, pre-Calamity. There had to be something here that was useful. They should probably get away from this old tree and to the real town.

Mizar stood up, stretched, and turned around.

There was a building there.

There was clearly no building there a minute ago, but there was now, clear as day, a three story wooden building, with a large sign reading “Stanley Pines Memorial Library of the Supernatural”.

Mizar eyed it. The building felt inviting, suspiciously inviting.

She was glaring now.

“So I don’t suppose this is normal?” she asked.

“What’s norm-” Alcor stared.  “What?”

He flew over to the shack and touched it. “What?” he asked again.

At his touch feelings of excitement and warmth filled him. The shack had an aura now, pleasant greens and blues swimming about.

The shack had a soul now.

“What‽” he said, yet again.

“So this is some kinda trap, right?” Mizar asked.

“No, this is the shack, I mean the library. The Calamity must have done this, somehow. Or maybe it just happened with time? It always did have some amount of personality…”

“Wait, for real?” Mizar turned to look at him. “That’s the place? The real place, not like some weird thing pretending to be the place so it can eat us?”

“Yes. This is absolutely the place.”

“Well then let’s go! Before it teleports away again.”

“Does the thought of being in a building that can teleport not alarm you in the slightest?” asked Plessy.

“Not when it’s the place I want to be. It can go wherever when I’m in it just so long as it takes me with it.”

“But what if it goes someplace dangerous?” said Nav.

Mizar grinned. “I doubt it could find a place that’s more dangerous than I am.”

“I do realize you’re probably talking about inhabited places and your ability to hold your own against other people, but now I’m imagining you trying to fight a volcano,” said Fred.

“I’ll kick that mountain’s butt. I’ll make it bleed,” Mizar said. “Anyways, who cares about that? I’m going in; you can do what you want.”

“I don’t want to be stuck someplace surrounded by that awful puzzle if this thing teleports out of here, so I think I’ll join you,” said Nav.

“It shouldn’t be able to teleport past out of the Falls,” Alcor said with the confidence of someone who hadn’t been wrong about half the things he said today. “The whole point of the puzzle was to make it so that I couldn’t teleport in, so if it left it couldn’t get back.”

Nav shrugged. “You also didn’t think that the Woodsman should have been able to get in or out of your puzzle, so I’m not sure I trust your understanding of the situation.”

“Oh, the Woodsman’s never made any sense. This is just a house… that also never made any sense, come to think of it.”

“I’m going in. Y’all can keep talking about shit if you want.”

Mizar walked up to the door and strolled inside.

The inside didn’t look much like a library. The room wasn’t very large and was mostly occupied by a large table with numerous chairs surrounding it, although a large wooden staircase ascending to the upper levels also took up a fair amount of space. The thick top of the wooden table was scratched and worn like a gladiator’s shield, an aesthetic shared with the chairs and floor. It didn’t smell like what Mizar was expecting, like dry paper and time, but like freshly baked bread. There wasn’t a layer of dust covering everything.

This didn’t feel like a building, long abandoned in the Calamity. It felt very much in use, like at any moment someone might walk through one of the three doorways into the room.

Alcor entered behind her, followed by the others.

“The actual library portion of the place is in the front,” he said, touching the wood of the ceiling, trying to get a feel for everything that had changed in the few centuries since he had last been here.

Before Mizar could do anything with that information, the far door burst open, revealing an unshifted doppelganger in a simple pale yellow dress, probably in their upper teens, whose eyes were closed in a pained expression.

“Jaxerto,” they said, “what have I told you about -”

Their eyes opened. Their finger remained held in the air accusatorily.

“You’re... not Jax,” they said, their finger falling slowly from its aloft position.

“Nope!” Mizar said. “And you’re not dead!”

“Why would I be dead?”

“Dunno. Why would I be Jax?”

“I just thought that she was in the room…” they said. They shook their head, and then stopped, looking hard at Mizar. “Hold on a moment… that symbol! Are you a Pines too?”

Alcor’s focus flipped from the shack to the teen.

Before Mizar could answer, another person entered the room. They were a short and stout human with pale skin and a mess of curly brown hair. They were a bit younger than the doppelganger looked, wearing a baggy shirt and pants with holes in the knees.

“Whoa! Newbies!” they exclaimed. “There’s so many of them. And they’re so old!”

“Jax, don’t be rude. I think they might be family.”

“I’m not a Pines,” Mizar said. “I’m the Mizar!”

“The Mizar? As in the reincarnation of Mabel Pines the Mizar?” The doppelganger’s eyes were wide. “Mizar the twin star Mizar?”

“That’s me!” Mizar said happily.

“Oh my. That’s amazing! I never thought I would meet a Mizar! What’s it like? Oh that’s probably a dumb question, what am I saying?”

Alcor was beaming, his hands cupping each side of his grinning mouth.

“You’re a Pines?” he asked. “I have niblings?”

The doppelganger turned upwards to Alcor, their mouth hanging open. They put a hand over their heart. They were breathing very heavily.

“Salvael?” asked Jax. “Come back to me, buddy. Be cool about this. You’re going to make us all look like dorks in front of our gruncle.”

“Mizar! I have niblings!”

“It’s Alcor!” Salvael explained, their hands waving from side to side. “Jax, it’s Alcor! He came back to us!”

“Yeah, I got that,” Jax said. “There can’t be that many floaty dudes who dress like that. It’s amazing there’s even one.”

“This is so great!”

“This is so cool!”

“I thought you were all dead!”

“We thought that… it doesn’t matter. You’re here! After all these years you finally came back!”

“Can I hug you?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, can somebody please explain what’s going on?” Nav asked, as the demon and doppelganger hugged. “How does a spirit have niblings that are, as far as I can tell, normal people?”

“I wouldn’t go as far as to say any of us are normal people…” Jax muttered. “Just look at Salvael. They’re hugging a demon.”

“Oh I’m sorry,” said Salvael. “I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life and got excited. This must be seem very strange.”

“Just a bit,” Nav said.

“I’m Salvael, they/them, and I’m a family historian. And this is my many time great uncle. By adoption.”

“Ah.” Nav nodded. “Adoption. I probably could have guessed that.”

“Yeah, Jex here’s related by blood, but as the original Mizar was human my ancestors had to join the family a little later. My lineage goes all the way back to the original Pleiades!” they said with pride. “Which isn’t to say that people who were added to the family later are any less a part of it, I just think it’s really cool that my ancestors knew the one and only Willow Pines.”

“How can anyone be related to a spirit by blood? They don’t have blood?”

“Shenanigans,” said Alcor. “Don’t worry about it.”

Mizar smiled at Savael. “So my preincarnation’s your great great etcetera grandmother huh? Cool!”

“And a remarkable woman on top of everything else. She’s responsible for almost all the family records of the era: she pretty much single-handedly preserved two generations of family and world history in a fascinating and personizing way. We don’t have such good primary sources for centuries after her death.”

“That’s cool. I should do something about recording my journey,” Mizar said. “Or maybe I could get someone to do it for me? Sounds kinda boring to do myself…”

“You really should,” said Savael. “Your descendants will appreciate it.”

“Pff,” Mizar rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to have any descendants. It’ll be the world that appreciates it.”

“You think you’re going to make history?”

“I know it.” Mizar stood tall. “I’m going to cure the world of corruption.”

Savael clapped their hands together. “Oh that’s great! I would love for it to be safer to get away from Mysha every now and then, when we’re not in Gravity Falls. Not that I don’t love zir, but I do feel a little cooped up at times.”

Plessy poked Nav.

//Why do we keep running into people who seem to think that this is plausible?\\ she signed.

Nav shrugged.

“Who’s Mysha?” Mizar asked.

“Oh, of course you wouldn’t know, you just got here. This,” Salvael waved their arms around, “is Mysha. I’m sure ze’s very excited to see you.”

“Didn’t quite follow that.”

Salvael’s grey skin flushed blue. “Right. Mysha’s the house. All around us. Which is what I was trying to gesture.”

“So you’re going by Mysha now?” Alcor asked, stroking a beam. “I like it.”

Alcor felt a rush of warmth flood through him.

“Look at you, communicating. I don’t suppose you’d care to put that new skill to use and tell me how this is possible?”

He got the distinct image that the house was sticking zir tongue out at him, somehow.

“Yeah, I kinda figured that would be the case,” he said. “Can’t be that easy, can it?”

“Can somebody please explain why watching a spirit have a conversation with a house is not the weirdest thing to happen to me today?” asked Nav.

//Some days it just be like that.\\

“Hold on a moment, Salvael,” said Mizar. “You mentioned that you don’t like getting too far away from Mysha when you’re not in Gravity Falls, presumably because of the corruption. What does being in Gravity Falls have to do with anything?”

“There are never any storms or corruptions in Gravity Falls.” They shrugged. “I don’t know why, but it’s safe here.”

She turned to look at Alcor. “I thought you said that your puzzle couldn’t save the town from the Calamity?”

“I did. It only stops things with the cognitive strength to have a dreamscape. It wouldn’t do anything to stop a storm, or a corruption.”

“So what’s going on then?”

His grin stretched across his face. “You really want to know?”

Mizar shook her head. “I’m not paying you to find out if that’s what you’re asking. Not after that fucking puzzle.”

Alcor drooped. “Aw, come on, it’s a really good answer. You’ll love it.”

“So just tell me.”

“But… it’s a really important piece of information. It’ll be worth a deal, I assure you.”

“No, I can work this out myself.”

“But, you don’t have to.”

“So? I Can,” Mizar said pointedly. “And I Will.”

“Fine.”

“Alright,” she said. “So we now know of two things that can part storms. Fred and Gravity Falls.”

“Three,” pointed out Nav, “if you count the legends of the Stormwalker, who’s pretty obviously the Woodsman.”

Mizar clapped her hands together. “Right! Thank you! Three things, two of which we know to be connected. Which would imply that there is a permanent fixture in Gravity Falls that is also connected to Fred and the Woodsman. Salvael, are there any books here on the Woodsman?”

“Well, there would be an entry on the Woodsman in the New Dictionary of Cryptids, and probably a few other books, but those are mostly speculative, and would probably be unhelpful for what I’m guessing you want.”

“Well, could I look at them anyway? Speculative knowledge is better than no knowledge.”

“I might be able to do you one better,” Salvael said. “Not about the Woodsman, and I could be wrong, but… hmm… I’m not sure it would actually be okay to show you that… but you are the Mizar, and you came here with our Grunkle, so I’m sure it’s fine. It’s basically your birthright. How about you come with me? Do the rest of you feel comfortable just exploring the library?”

“Well, I can’t read the script of the ones who came before, but this seems like a comfortable enough place to spend some time,” said Nav.

“I can’t read any script but I agree that this seems like a nice place,” said Fred.

“Alright,” Mizar said, “lead the way.”

They led her and Alcor through the house to the part of the building that held the library.

It was impossible to ignore the size of the library. Its central hallway stretched on forever, terminating at a wall that seemed impossibly far away in the dim lighting. The ceiling was twice as high in here as it had been in the living portion of the building, and tall shelves towered above the visitors. Side hallways and rooms jutted out from the central room like branches on a tree.

“Whoa,” Mizar said. “This place is awesome! Are all these books still in readable condition?”

Salvael smiled. “Mysha keeps them well. We have to keep them dusted and the space clean, but ze keeps the humidity down, the lighting at safe levels, and I’ve never seen any pests in here. I would highly recommend having a sapient library for all your book storage needs, especially if some people you live with don’t take the responsibilities they’ve inherited very seriously.”

“And you’re telling me that with all these books here, none of them have anything useful to say about the Woodsman?”

“He was a very mysterious entity. No one knew much of anything about him, and he never seemed interested in sharing anything about himself. And I don’t know every book in here - there might be one that would have something useful, but I suspect what I’m going to show you would be better than anything else we could find.”

Salvael lead them to a side passage, which quickly turned into a maze of twists and turns. The warped wood and peeling wallpaper of the walls made the narrowing hallways they were passing through seem much older than the smooth-walled main chamber of the main library had been.

Finally, after walking for what was probably ten minutes, Salvael led them into a room that was large, although nothing compared to the main library. A line of shelves started at the back of the room and reached for the front, leaving space for a pile of bean bag chairs, a small table, and a couch in front of them.

“This is the Pines History Room. It’s where we keep everything related to our family history!” they explained. “Personal journals, photo albums, cookbooks, sketchbooks, everything that anyone in the family has made for over a thousand years. Assuming they didn’t request it not get added, of course.”

Alcor stayed in the doorway for a moment before slowly floating to the nearest shelf and running his fingers along the spines of the books.

Salvael walked to the furthest shelf and pulled something out from the bottom.

“So I couldn’t help but notice that one of your friends had horns.” They flipped through the large red plaid binder they held. “And with the mention that they’re connected to the Woodsman I couldn’t help but think that they might be a reincarnation of a different Pines.”

They set the book they were holding down, revealing a series of pictures. They were all of a group of smiling people, five adults and three similar-looking children, who looked to be about a year older in each progressive picture. They were all wearing oversized green and red sweaters with script on them even older than Mizar could read. One of the adults had antlers with colorful balls hanging off them.

“That,” said Salvael, pointing at the antlered person, “is Henry Pines. No one is entirely sure where the antlers came from - they first started appearing in pictures around the time the triplets are in their early teens so we’re pretty sure that he wasn’t born with them, but they weren’t always corporeal so it’s hard to be sure. The general consensus is that he got them as a byproduct of some deal with Alcor, who - wait a second, who is you! What happened all those years ago? Why would you give someone antlers? What does Henry Pines have to do with the Woodsman?”

“Mizar said that she wanted to figure this out herself,” Alcor said, paging through a journal.

“But… I didn’t say that. I’ve been figuring this stuff out on my own for most of my life, and it would be really cool if I could get the input of someone who was there.”

“Tell you what. We’ll jam about it once this is all good and settled. And I’ll probably start laughing if you say anything too out there.”

“I would really like that. The jamming that is, not being laughed at. I have all these theories and stuff but it’s hard to get to know who people really were from just the things they left behind. And we’re related to some really fascinating people, whom I would love to know more about.”

“They’re far more than fascinating, you know. They were wonderful, each and every one of them.”

“So what’s the significance of Fred being this Henry person’s reincarnation?” asked Mizar.

“Right. So Henry’s antlers could grow apples. This is pretty well documented: the Transcendental Pines would make pies and cider from them. And this -” Salvael flipped to a page that had, among other pictures, a picture of a sapling, “- is labeled as ‘Henry’s apple tree’. So my thought is that they grew a tree using the seed of Henry’s fruit. And if a Henry reincarnation’s horns somehow absorb the energy of magic storms, the apple tree might have the same properties.”

“Is that the same tree as the one outside?” asked Mizar.

“I haven’t found any record of anyone replanting it, so probably.”

“Do apple trees normally live that long?”

“Well, magic apple trees planted in the most magical place on the planet can live a very long time for sure.”

“It’s definitely a magic thing; apple trees live a century or two normally.”

“Fascinating,” Mizar said, tonelessly. “I thought that you weren’t going to tell us anything because I said I could do this on my own?”

“Well, I’m not going to tell you anything useful. I’m not just going to ignore you completely.”

“That’s great.” She shook her head. “Anyway! You’re telling me that the tree in your yard is capable of protecting the whole town from corruptions and storms?”

“Well, that’s my best guess for what’s doing it,” said Salvael.

“The tree outside that’s currently bearing fruit?” Mizar was beaming. “Oh this is going to be so much easier than I thought it would be! I thought this step was going to take like, years!”

“We’ll you’re still going to have to find some way of testing that it is the tree. It’s possible that something else in the town is causing it.”

“Right, right.” Mizar nodded. “And even if it is the tree, trees take a long time to grow, and I bet the younger the tree the smaller the effect is.”

“If only you had an entity of great power on your side,” Alcor said without away from the journal.

Mizar turned to him. “Could you predict where a storm is going to hit in, say, a year?”

He looked up. “For the right price I could.”

“So we could bring some seeds to a place a storm is going to occur, plant it, give it a season to grow, and see if it has a null field at all.”

“Sounds like a plan. A little dangerous, but with Fred and me there it shouldn’t be too bad.”

“I should probably go make sure that Fred is actually okay with this,” Mizar said. “Could you show me the way back? I’m not sure I remember.”

“You wanna leave already?” said Alcor. “We just got here; there’s a lot to see.”

“I didn’t come here to learn about my preincarnation’s family history,” Mizar said. “I came to make a plan. And I would like to finish making that plan before I waste time reading about the dead.”

“I thought you liked history?”

“I like knowing the specifics of what I am going to be doing more. History is fun and all, but the future is far more important.”

“But -”

“You can stay here if you want,” she said. “I’ll summon you if we need your input.”

Alcor drifted to the front of the room and ran a hand over the scrapbook on Henry, and looked at the frontmost shelf, full of names and stories that he didn’t recognize.

“I’d like that,” he said. “I have a lot to catch up on. And if you want to come back when you’re done showing Mizar the way, Salvael, I think I really would like to talk.”

Salvael perked up.

“Really?” Their voice squeaked a little. “That’d be great! Come on Mizar, let’s get you back to the main library.”

Salvael went quickly down the hallway, all but skipping.

Mizar followed, matching their pace. It felt good to move quickly, each step bringing her closer to her final solution.

She was coming up with an actual solution.

This was really happening.

Her heart and mind raced. She felt light and giddy. She wasn’t walking, she was floating, she wasn’t real, she was dreaming, this was too easy. She tried to ground herself - they didn’t know this was going to work, there were many unknowns, many things that might go wrong or just not go at all, and this was going to take time to implement - but she couldn’t get rid of the giddy energy.

This was really happening.

She could see the future; she could see a world where people didn’t live in fear of corruptions, of storms, of the epicenters of chaos that spawned them. A world where each community held a massive tree at its heart, weighed down with golden apples.

She could see it.

It was going to be real.

This was really happening. She barely noticed when Salvael stopped, almost walking into them.

Her traveling companions were scattered about the room. Plessy and Nav were in the corner, signing and giggling at each other. Fred was deep in a bean bag chair. Mizar went up to her.

Her throat suddenly felt dry.

“Hey,” Fred said. “You find what you were looking for?”

“Maybe,” she said. “We have a working theory at any rate. It might be totally wrong. But it might…”

She took a breath.

“Would you be willing to go someplace that we know a storm is going to strike to test a theory with me?” she asked.

“I don’t have anything better to do,” said Fred. “And if you found something that might even work to fight the corruption, well, that would really be the governor's feather now wouldn’t it?”

“The theory is that the tree outside is protecting Gravity Falls. So if we take some of the apples and plant the seeds we might be able to create more trees with null fields protecting stationary communities, and maybe if we’re really crazy we could like, plant some in the epicenters? Or something? We’re going to have to deal with those eventually.”

Fred broke eye contact. “I uh, don’t really think that’s a good plan.”

“You’re right, going to the epicenters is probably a suicide mission. We’re going to have to come up with something else.”

Fred shook her head. “No, no, no, there’s nothing wrong with that, I mean, there probably is, but I don’t have a problem with it. No, I was referring to the planting of apple seeds.”

Mizar opened her mouth, speechless for a moment. “What’s wrong with that‽”

“You don’t grow apple trees by planting apple seeds,” Fred explained. “I mean, you can. If you know what you’re doing and plant some apple seeds, you’ll get an apple tree, but it probably won’t produce the same type of fruit as the parent does, and who knows if magic properties would transfer. What you want to do is wait till late spring, take cuttings, and plant those. Probably in a pot at first, so you can make sure it grows roots before you plant it someplace that’s gonna be counting on it taking. I’d recommend a nice peat soil; that drains well.”

“Right. You were partially raised by a dryad, weren’t you?”

“I know a lot about plants.”

“So we’re going to have to wait till spring?” asked Mizar.

“Well you would have to wait till spring no matter what,” Fred pointed out. “Can’t plant seeds in late fall and expect them to take.”

“Right. Right,” said Mizar. “But now we have a plan. Even if we have to wait a little, we finally have an idea about how we’re going to do this.”

She was smiling.

This was really happening.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

HAPPY TAUIVERSARY EVERYONE!

Sorry about how long this took, I completely ran out of steam for it. Unfortunately, it might be a while before the next chapter comes out, as I have no idea how I'm going to approach half of it. However, I recently came up with a new thing to add to it, and might cleave it in two in which case it should actually be relatively quick before the next. I did, however, just started writing several new stories, because I have more ideas then common sense, so that relatively quickly might still be a few months as I don't know how I'm going to be prioritizing things. It won't be another year though, I promise that.

#A Better Birthright #My writing #Transcendence AU #My shit #My fic

[some1foundme]

Fic: Lost in the Memory

Title: Lost in the Memory

Author: Some1FoundMe

Summary: Oliver Queen returns to his home in Star City after a five year tour overseas, much to the delight of his friends and family. There’s just one small problem. The injury that effectively ended his military career also erased a part of his memory.  As he struggles to put together the missing pieces of his past, his connection to his best friend’s little sister becomes something he can’t avoid. Who is Felicity Merlyn and why can’t he seem to stay away from her?  Olicity AU, no Arrow, no island.

A/N: Another huge thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed.  I love hearing from all of you.  And to my beta, westernbeauty, again, thank you so much for all of your support!

Read on AO3 or ff.net. 

Chapter Eight

“Uncle Oliver!”

Felicity’s steps faltered as she watched Thea run up the walk and launch herself into Oliver’s arms. He caught her with ease, swinging her around and making her squeal.  When he set her on her feet again, he ruffled her hair playfully.

“Hey, kid, how was school?”

Thea shrugged, “It was okay. Do you wanna play Mario with me?”

Oliver shot her a quick look before crouching down to Thea’s level.  

“You should probably check with Aunt Felicity first.  I’m gonna guess you’ve got homework to do, right?”

Felicity had no doubt that the mention of homework had her niece rolling her eyes.  Thea had never been a big fan of school and doing schoolwork at home was one of her least favorite things.

“Uncle Oliver is right. You know the rule.  Homework first and then you can play your game.  Maybe he’ll stick around for dinner and you two can play for a while, okay?”

Thea bounced on her heels and grinned at Oliver.

“Will you?  Please Uncle Oliver?  Please?”

He nodded and stood, tugging a long curl.

“Sure, Thea.  But I need to talk to your aunt for a minute. Why don’t you go get started on your homework, okay?”

Appeased that he wasn’t going anywhere, Thea raced back to her for the key before letting herself into the house.  Felicity could only hope that her coat and shoes wouldn’t be in a pile just inside the door when they went inside.

“Do you want to go in? It’s pretty damn cold out here.”

He shook his head, “We should probably stay out here if that’s okay with you.  I just didn’t think you’d want Thea to…”

“It’s fine.  What’s up?”

Felicity moved up onto the porch and followed him as he went to the porch swing.  He sat and she hesitated for just a moment before sitting down next to him.  She was freezing, huddled down into her coat as much as possible, and she felt him shift nervously next to her.  

She braced herself for whatever it was that he had to say.  It was difficult to ignore the warmth that radiated from his body.  She longed to press herself into his side. They had spent more than one cool, autumn night wrapped around one another on the swing, keeping each other warm. It had been the place where he’d kissed her for the first time and the last place where he’d told her he loved her. She knew that he wasn’t aware of the swing’s significance.  There was no way that he could know how much of an affect sitting there with him was having on her heart.

“Is everything alright?” she asked when he’d been quiet for too long.

“Everything’s fine. At least, it’s as good as it’s going to get until my memory comes back.”

She swallowed hard, nodding.

“Okay.  Then… then what did you want to talk to me about?”

Oliver took a deep breath, his feet on the floor rocking the swing gently.

“I went to Coast City this week.  To see a specialist.”

“I know, Nyssa told Sara and Sara told me.”

He pulled the collar of his jacket up to protect his face from the icy wind and ducked his head.  

“He told me that the best thing for someone in my condition is to try to go about my life as normally as possible.  To just keep living the way that I had before the accident.  He thinks it’d be best if I try to pick up where I left off.  Even if I can’t exactly remember where that was before leaving for Iraq, he still suggested that I get back into my normal routine.”

Felicity stared at him and waited for him to continue.  When he lifted his head to search her face, her breath caught.

“I think – I think that I should be here.  With you and Thea.”

Felicity nodded slowly, “Oh… okay.  Um, what – what do your parents think about that?  I mean, your mom didn’t even want me to tell you about us.”

“It isn’t her decision to make,” he told her, shrugging, “The only opinion that matters to me right now is yours.  I know that it’s asking a lot, given everything, but I’d really like to be able to remember who I was before all of this and if being here with the two of your helps with that, then I want to be here.  I’d – I’d really like to come home.”

She took a stuttering breath and averted her eyes, looking out onto the snow covered yard.

It would be far too easy to say yes.  To give in without considering any of the consequences.  He belonged there with them, there was no question, but at the same time, she had to think about how Thea would feel.  She had to think about her own fragile emotions.  Having him there with them, in their home, would mean the world to her.  But it wouldn’t change anything until he did remember her.  He would simply be in closer proximity and Felicity feared that having him nearby would hurt more than it would help.

“I – I’m not sure how we’ll explain it to Thea,” she told him carefully, “And I’ve got to consider how she’ll feel having you’re here when she knows what’s going on. Everything’s – everything’s different now, you and I are different.  She’ll be able to pick up on that.”

“I understand.”

“And your parents… I don’t want them to hate me.  Things have been good for the last few years, we’ve had a good relationship and I don’t want you moving back in here to ruin that.  I don’t want to piss off your mother if I don’t have to.”

He chuckled, shaking his head.

“Please don’t worry about my mother.  She and I had a very strongly worded conversation about this.  She understands that it’s my life, my decision.  She knows that I’m here now, that I wanted to discuss it with you.  And she understands that the choice is yours, not hers.”

Felicity scrubbed at her face with her gloved hand and sighed.  She turned back to Oliver and found him watching her.

“Before I agree to this, I need you to tell me something.  Are you doing this because you feel obligated to be here?  In this house?  With me?  Because unless you actually want to be here, then – then I don’t think it’s the best idea. I don’t want you to think that you owe me anything.  If it turns out that you can’t ever remember me or what we had then –“

Her voice cracked and a lump formed in her throat.  She swallowed hard.  Oliver grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly and pulling her closer.

“I’m sorry that I – God, I’m just sorry.  But you have to understand, I want to be here because I want to remember you.  I want to remember us.  I – I feel something when I’m here with you, something that I only feel with you.  Please, I really think that going back to the way things were could really help jog my memory.”

Tucked under Oliver’s arm, the heat of his body seeping into her, Felicity felt the ache that had settled in her bones begin to ease.  There wasn’t a question of how desperately she wanted him there with her, in their house and in their bed, but she knew that it wouldn’t be that simple.  There was one very large obstacle that they would have to overcome and Felicity hoped that she was about to make the right decision for all of them.

“O – Okay.  You can stay here.  I still think we should talk to Thea and just make sure she’s alright with it, but if it’ll help you heal, then you can move back in.”

They remained on the swing until the bitter cold chased them inside.  Felicity shed her coat and boots just inside the door, not at all surprised to find Thea’s on the floor as she’d suspected, and called up the stairs to her niece.

“Thea?  Are you doing your homework?”

“Yes, Aunt Felicity!”

She shook her head, hanging the coats on the rack near the door and heading for the kitchen.  Oliver followed after her, having left his coat on the hook beside hers.

“What’s it like?  The day to day with her?  Do you two have a routine?” he asked.

Felicity shrugged, “It’s pretty much the same day after day.  We’ve just gotten so used to it, you know?  It’s been us for five years, me and her, so yeah, there’s a routine. I pick her up from school at four and when we get home, she goes straight to homework mode.  While she’s doing that, I get dinner started. Usually she’ll finish her homework while I’m working on dinner and she likes to come and help when she can.  We always have dinner at the kitchen table. Unless it’s a special occasion, like movie night or something, and then we’ll camp out on the couch.  Um… I’m not always home for dinner.  I work the dinner shift at Verdant on the weekends, Friday and Saturday both most of the time, but I try to be home with her every other night.”

“Did you work today?” Oliver asked.

“Not today.  It’s my one day off this week.  But it’s nice because I’m the boss and I make the schedule. Plus, everyone on my staff is pretty accommodating.  I’m the only one with a kid so they’re all pretty willing to help out.”

“And where does she go on the weekends?”

Felicity pulled the ingredients for a chicken and stuffing casserole from the refrigerator and cabinets, moving about the kitchen on autopilot as Oliver took a seat at the island. She set up a cutting board and grabbed a knife from the block.  Tackling the onion first, she shrugged and answered his question.

“Sometimes to your parents, sometimes to the Lances.  It just depends.  She spends a lot of time with Nyssa and Sara, they’re her aunts, too.  But yeah, the weekends are kind of a struggle.”

She shot him a tentative smile and he returned it before she went back to dicing.

“Do you – do you ever think that maybe Tommy made a mistake leaving her with us?  That maybe she would’ve been better off with Laurel’s parents?”

The knife in her hand glanced off of the onion and the sudden burn in her fingertip confirmed what she’d already suspected.  She dropped the knife, letting it clatter against the countertop, and grabbed a paper towel off of the roll.

“Shit, Felicity, I’m sorry,” he mumbled, jumping up from his seat and rounding the counter to take her hand. He lifted her injured finger and examined the cut, “I – I didn’t mean it like that.  I just… I guess I just wondered if you ever thought about what your life would be like if you hadn’t become her mother at twenty-three.”

Oliver turned on the tap and guided her hand into the stream of water.

She sighed, “It’s fine, Oliver, really.  People have children much younger than twenty-three.  And … and we had this argument once.  Right after Tommy died.  It was via satellite phone but it was still an argument.”

Felicity stuck her finger in her mouth for just a second before drying her hands.  Oliver was looking at her curiously and she knew that he was waiting for her to explain.  She shrugged.

“When Tommy and Laurel had the paperwork drawn up that granted me guardianship if anything were to happen to them, it was before we were married.  It only listed me.  So after Tommy died, we had a very long and heated discussion about adopting her. About you adopting her.  I did question it.  We both did.  But in the end, we agreed.  She was happy here with me and neither of us wanted to disrupt that.”

Thea chose that moment to skip into the kitchen, slapping her homework folder down on the table.

“Done!”

“I’ll look it over in just a minute,” Felicity told her, “Let me get dinner in the oven first.”

“I’ll do it,” Oliver offered, glancing at her for permission, “If you don’t mind.”

Felicity smiled at his hopeful expression.  It was a simple request but it was a step in the right direction.  He was trying to slip back into normal life, to find his place in their lives specifically, and checking Thea’s homework was an easy way for him to find his footing.

“Yeah, of course, have at it.”

She watched as he sat beside Thea at the table and opened her folder.  They started with a math worksheet and as she listened to Oliver calmly explain where she’d made a few mistakes, Felicity went back to making dinner.

By the time she’d gotten the casserole in the oven, they’d moved on to spelling.

“Oh you know this one,” Oliver teased, “Spell military.”

Thea grinned brightly, “M-i-l-i-t-a-r-y.  Military.”

“Perfect.  How about independence.”

She paused and squeezed her eyes shut as if she were trying to picture the word in her head.  When she looked at Oliver again, she tried slowly.

“I-n-d-a-p-d-e-n-d-e-n-c-e?”

“Really close,” Oliver told her, “Try again.  Sound it out, okay?  In-de-pendence.”

She took a moment to think about it before giving it another try.

“I-n-d-e-p-e-n-d-e-n-c-e?”

“Exactly!”

Oliver grinned and gave her a high five, making her giggle.

Felicity washed her hands and loaded the dishwasher as they worked their way through the rest of the list.  By the time she joined them at the table, Thea’s homework had been put away and they were playing a game of tic-tac-toe on a scrap sheet of paper.  She watched them play two games – Oliver letting Thea win them both – interrupting before her niece could start a third.

“Sweetie, there’s something that Uncle Oliver and I want to talk to you about.”

Thea looked back and forth between the two of them, eyeing them critically.

“Does Uncle Oliver remember you now?” she asked eventually.

“No, hon-“

“I’m afraid not, sweetheart.  I wish that I did, but no.”

Warmth rushed to her cheeks as she cast a sidelong glance at Oliver.  He continued on as if he hadn’t noticed her staring.

“But we were wondering how you’d feel if I moved back in here.  With you and Aunt Felicity.  Would that be okay with you?”

Thea shrugged, “Married people are supposed to live together … you and Aunt Felicity are still married, right?”

Oliver looked over at her and they both nodded.

“Of course we are,” he assured her.

She shrugged again, “Okay.”

Oliver seemed surprised by Thea’s easy acceptance of the situation but the truth was, Felicity hadn’t expected her to put up much of a fight.  She had been fairly confident that her niece would be happy with the development.  She had already asked once why Oliver hadn’t come home to live with them and Felicity understood that not having him there with them was probably more confusing for her than having him at home.

“Are you gonna spend the night?” Thea asked, “Will you take me to school tomorrow?”

Felicity shook her head and they spoke at the same time.

“I’ll take you, Thea, it’s –“

“If that’s okay with –“

She and Oliver turned to one another and a sudden stretch of silence was drawn between them.

Felicity’s heart made its way into her throat.  She hadn’t anticipated that he would be there so soon.  They hadn’t really discussed the details of when he would move back in but she had assumed that he’d go back to his parents’ house for a night or two.  The prospect of having him under the same roof again, of having him sleeping in their home, stirred up the butterflies in her stomach.

“Do you… do you want to stay tonight?” she asked.

Oliver nodded, “If it’s alright with you…”

She swallowed hard, “Yeah.  That – that sounds good.”

“Good.”

Thea squirmed restlessly in her seat, the movement drawing their attention away from one another and back to her.  Felicity smiled. 

“Can Uncle Oliver and I play Mario now?” Thea asked.

When Felicity looked at Oliver again, she found that his eager smirk matched Thea’s.  She knew that she would forever be in trouble if the two of them continued to gang up on her.

She rolled her eyes.

“Fine but you’ve got less than an hour before dinner.”

#arrow au #olicity fanfiction #lost in the memory fic #some1foundme fic

[thedeliverygod]

so I’m gonna do something I haven’t done in a looong time! I’m gonna go back and take this survey (now called a meme I guess lol) that I did back in 2008 and compare answers for funsies

here we go~ bold answers are current answers. 

Do you think that you are a good singer? sometimes/yeah sometimes lol. sometimes not. Are you sure of your sexuality? sure./ yup, I’m asexual. At the time I took this before I thought I was just heterosexual and weird lol. Do you love your parents? yeah/ mhmm.  Do you think that you are smart? not really, more like average./ uhh. For some things yes, other things no. I seem to have a little bit of knowledge on a wide variety of things. Are you pretending to be someone that you're not? no./ nopeee.  Do you like to read? yeah/ I do but it’s hard to find things to read.

How often do you talk on the phone? like once everyday for a tops of like 5 mins./ uhh not very often at all. probably once every few days at most. Are you a local celebrity? definately not./ lol yeah no. Also I’m glad I finally learned how to spell definitely after so many years of struggling with it.  Is your mom awesome? yeah/ she has her moments that are good but she also has her bad moments Are you a pottymouth? no./ not really but I curse now, unlike when I took this survey in 2008 lol. Do you think that you are a good writer? I am! ^_^/ eh I’m alright. There’s plenty of people who are more talented than me and I wish I could have their talent brush off on me lol but I enjoy writing a lot so I won’t quit. What was the last compliment that you got? I dunno./ hmmm I dunno. I get ‘cute’ a decent amount I suppose.  What does your home phone look like? we don't have one./ idk just a standard home phone lol silver and black. What was the last hoodie that you wore? don't know./ idk but probably my black hoodie from American Eagle that says “NYC” on it.  What grade are you in right now if you are in school? eleventh./ I graduated college in December 2014 so it’s been 2 years since I got my bachelor’s degree (and I still have no full time job yay lol) Do you eat candy daily? haha no./ ummm almost? lmao. I kinda constantly keep chocolate around. Name a song from this artist/band: 

Paramore: decode/ misguided ghosts Cartel: if I were to write the song/ save us My Chemical Romance: ghost of you/ Black parade I guess haha Teddy Geiger: night air/ same song lol Three Days Grace: over and over/ Animals? haha The Rocket Summer: Aerosmith: dream on. Mika: popular with Ariana Grande (wow he was around back then? I had no idea) Cute Is What We Aim For:   Avenged Sevenfold: darkness surrounding/ I don’t even know anything by this band anymore lol  Fall Out Boy: thnks fr th mmrs./ hum hallelujah  Have you ever moved to a different home? yeaaaah/ yeah a decent amount Have you ever switched schools? just graduating from them./ same’s true now. Started at UNCG and graduated from UNCG.  Do you like to go swimming? when it's warm outside./ yeah but I hardly get the opportunity to go anymore. Have you ever been to camp? no, not really./ not an organized summer camp, no. I’ve been traditional camping (in a tent and an RV) though, yes. Do you have a pet, if so, what? yes. 2 dogs, 3 cats, and 2 finches./ aw the finches I miss them. Um I’ve just got Kairi, really, and then my dad has 3 cats. My mom also has 2 cats and a dog that I used to live with so I kinda consider mine still too. Do you have trouble spelling certain words? haha yeah. Disappear is one I spell wrong often./ plenty but I can’t think of any on the spot.  Do you get nervous with public speaking? yes./ hells yeah Do you know the words to your myspace song? yep./ lol myspace is long gone.  What is your favorite TV show? don't watch TV./ Prison Break & Scrubs for traditional TV (live action). Noragami for anime.  Do you know anyone with a really weird name? not really./ nah What are you going to name your kids? Cameron or Landon [I remembered that name today and I love it] annnnd Kayla or October. I don't care if the name October Melody sounds emo/goth, it's beautiful./ I don’t plan on having biological kids and therefore don’t really plan on naming any kids. I do really love Yukine’s name though.  Are you taken? no./ nope, single once again Do you fight with your parents all the time? no./ no, I’ve fought with my mom a few times now that I’m older but it just ends in me getting into panic attacks so I’m good. Is your tongue pierced? no./ nooo. I don’t have any piercings and don’t ever plan to. Are you in pain right now? no./ no but I wish this cold would go away What are you doing tomorrow? homework./ dunno but I should really do laundry.  Where does the last person you kissed go to school? n/a/ he graduated in 2014 as well. Who do you blame for your bad mood today? no one/ myself if I had one but I think today has been relatively neutral.  What was the first thing you did this morning? watched the ending of A Walk to Remember cuz my mom was watching it in the living room. haha./ the same thing I do every morning. Check all my emails, facebook, tumblr & LINE all on my phone XD Do you care of what people think of you? to a certain degree./ hell yeah. I’m surprised I said ‘to a certain degree’ back in high school. I’ve always wanted to please everyone. Who was the last person you took a picture with? *shrug* / oh I had a picture taken of me at work recently, I think it was was Jake.  Last person you went to the movies with? Holt/ a whole group of my friends went to see Finding Dory in IMAX. Today, would you rather go back a week or go forward a week? forward./ definitely forward.  What are you looking forward to right now? christmas break./ Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue on Tuesday~ Do you miss someone? no./ I always miss someone these days but oh well.  Where was your default pic taken? here./ in my work parking lot  Your current relationship status? single/ single Does your crush like you back? n/a/ same thing, n/a What is your current mood? eh, neutral./ yeah pretty much the same lol If you could go back in time and change something, would you? no./ I wanna say no because it could change some of the good things that happened to me but at the same I wish I could do a few things differently in terms of school. Have a crazy side? haha not really./ it’s more like I have a weeb side.  Ever had a near death experience? not really./ yeah kinda.. Something you do a lot? sing./ write and live on the internet lol Angry at anyone? nah./ our “president” and his chosen administration How many people have you liked in the past 8 months? I haven't! blahhh./ my ex boyfriend before and shortly after we broke up, that’s it. I mean if I think about it too much today I’m sure I can still get really sad but overall I’m okay. What did you do today? nothing much yet./ not much tbh lol  Where will you be 12 hours from now? dunno./ probably right here on this couch Have you ever been to a tanning bed? nah. /nope not interested. Is it easy for others to make you feel awkward? not really. / what the hell??? was I really more self confident in high school or was I just extremely unaware? Yes. It is extremely easy for others to make me feel awkward lol. Where do you wish you were right now? *shrug*/ in my own apartment. Does anyone hate you for no reason? not that I know of./ not for no reason. but nah I don’t think anyone truly hates me. we’ve just had some disagreements about things like homosexuality.  Have you ever kissed someone who's name starts with the letter B? no./ still on. have only kissed one person. Has anyone ever borrowed something from you and never returned it back? hah yeah. / yeaaaaah but for most things it’s been so long I don’t even care anymore. My creative writing teacher didn’t give me my favorite book back lol but I bought a new copy and I hope he continues to use it in his classes.  Today did you hug a person you have feelings for? n/a / there’s no person I have feelings for but I also I haven’t hugged anyone lol What was the first thing you thought this morning? I dunno. what time is it? / “I feel like I can probably go back to sleep but maybe I should get up.” *looks at clock* “holy... how is it 11:47???” Have you ever told someone of the opposite sex you loved them and meant it? yes/ yeah How is your day so far? alright./ it’s fine. Do you want to go to college? yeah./ been there, done that. Kinda would like to go back but pretty sure I can’t.  What's your favorite season? summer. / still true.  When was the last time you cried and the reasons? I found a letter my Dad wrote me a while ago when he didn't leave here. / because of all of my self-doubt from not having a full time job yet along with negativity stemming from all the terrible things that can happen with Trump now in office including losing my healthcare.   Have you ever talked to someone when they were high? yeah./ yeah I guess so What was your favorite grade? 7th grade. haha. or last year, I guess./ probably 12th grade. But college was the best.  Have you ever, in any way, been betrayed by someone you trusted? yeaaaaaah / yeah. It took me a minute to remember what I was talking about when I answered this the first time but yeah.  Do you know anyone who would just drop everything to come see you? sure yeah./ a lot of my friends probably would but idk if I would want them to 1.Do you like to brag? sometimes but not usually. / I guess if I can do it without coming off like a jerk? lol I like to feel proud of myself.  2.What do you do when you are alone? think. haha. / write, edit videos, play video games, watch movies. idk I do a lot of things alone.  3.Would you go out wearing sweats? I don't like sweatpants much, but I would if I had some I guess./ definitely. 4.What color is your coat? blue. / I have a black one and a green one.  5.Does it bother you when people don't call you back? sometimes. / depends. Most of the time it’s a relief I guess haha 6.Is their ever a legit reason to smoke? no, there's not. / no not really. smoke in any form is bad for your lungs.  7.What was the last movie you watched? the end of A Walk to Remember. / ummmm. War Horse.  8.Where is the last place you went to? Fayeteville, my grandma's house. / my work.  9.What made you laugh last? Taylor and her texts I guess lol. / I had Noragami paused and it was just the baby from the 1st episode of Aragoto just floating in the air this big burst of light underneath him and idk it was hilarious 10.Have you ever done drugs? no. / still no, not interested in the least.  11.What show do you watch the most? none. / noragami.  12.How are you feeling right now? content. / okay, but my eyes and my stomach kinda hurt a little bit.  13.What season is your birthday in? spring. 14.What color eyes does the person you like have? n/a 15.Do you wear polos? no. / I do for work but that’s it lol 16.What color are your socks? no socks. / black 17.Do you like going to the dentist? lol noo. / hells no. I haven’t been in quite a few years now cuz I know they’ll just yell at me about my wisdom teeth which have already grown in.  18. What is the best thing about hugs? *shrug*/ they’re warm and comforting? lol idk 19.Who’s birthday is coming up next? my Dad's. / Mine I guess 20.Do you like kids? yeah / I like kids but I’m super awkward with babies.  21.Do you wear glasses or contacts? neither. 22.Are you listening to music? goin' back to cali--Sevendust. /nope, have Law & Order SVU on the TV.  23.What do you think of sex before marriage? sure. just make your old enough to handle the consequences and I obviously believe that you should be in love. / have at it. Just be prepared with birth control, condoms, etc. I retract the statement about love since even though I don’t really understand the want for casual sex, I realize it’s something a lot of people do want.  24.Do you and your dad have a good relationship? ehhh. mostly./ yeah it’s better now.  25.What color is your toothbrush? blue. / still blue haha 26.Do you believe in god? yeah / I believe in a god but probably not the one this survey is asking about. I don’t believe in a god that has any sort of interaction with humans/impacts their lives. I basically believe god is a culmination of all the energy in the universe.  27.Do you wear chapstick? nope./ yes, I need it especially in winter. 28.What is the last thing you bought? I dunno. oh wait I bought sodas for me and my mom. haha./ cat litter, cupcake hersey’s kisses, and cold medicine.  29.Is there anything/anyone that you hate? sure I hate things like racism and etc. oh and OCD Christians. I hate how Religion causes so many issues as well. /I mean yeah I hate people who are judgmental and hateful towards people and treat them as less than equal for any reason. Also I apologize for my past use of OCD.  30.Are you currently craving anything? nah. /nope I’m good.  31.What color is your clock? don't have one. / silver.  32.What time do you usually go to bed? 10: 30 on weeknights, whenever I feel like it on the weekends. / it used to be 1:30 AM but it’s been more like 2:30 AM lately.  33.What do you eat for breakfast? nothing or blueberry poptarts./ nothing.  34.Dog person or cat person? probably cat person but I like both. / both. 35.Something you can't wait to do? road trip. haha. / go to Animazement this year, go to the KH Orchestra World Tour in June~  36.Last thing you put into your mouth? coke./ mountain dew probably 37.What band did you like as a kid? Backstreet Boys and Nsync, duhhh. 38.Do you have a piggy bank? I have a like 3 gallon water tank thing that we store change in haha. / same thing lol also I have a box full of coins too.  39.What time is it? 4: 04 pm / 7:44 PM 40.Do you forgive and forget? forgive, I don't really forget. / I try to forget if I can but it depends on the issue I suppose.

wow this was way longer than I thought RIP. but that was interesting to say the least. 

#about me #past vs present #long post